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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28314426">Face Everything and Rise</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/wtfkovah/pseuds/wtfkovah'>wtfkovah</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>F.E.A.R [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>SEVENTEEN (Band)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Werecreatures, Alternate Universe - Werewolf, Christmas Fluff, Crack, Cute, Fluff, Humor, Light Angst, M/M, Rough Sex</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 02:20:05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>21,820</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28314426</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/wtfkovah/pseuds/wtfkovah</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>“You kind of met him already.” He admits. When Jeonghan's eyebrows go up, Jihoon shuffles his feet and looks down at the ground. “It’s Seungcheol, you know…the guy I hooked up with at your Halloween party.”</p><p>Jeonghan’s brow pinches a moment, but just as quickly smooths again as a thought seems to occur to him. </p><p>“Wait, seriously? The Himbo?”</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Choi Seungcheol | S.Coups/Lee Jihoon | Woozi</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>F.E.A.R [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2073687</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>330</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Face Everything and Rise</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  
</p><p>“Alright, who is he? And when do we meet him?”</p><p>Jihoon startles so badly, he sends the jar of peanut butter to dizzying heights. He manages to catch it though, and set it back on the shelf before he brains someone, and when he turns around, he finds Jeonghan and Seungkwan flanking his shopping basket, watching him with those patented, amused, infuriating smirks.</p><p>Jihoon looks back and forth between them, then down the aisle at the clerk stacking cans nearby, and for a hot second, genuinely considers screaming for help.</p><p>Instead, he goes for a puzzled, “Huh?”</p><p>If anything, the smirks become all the <em>more</em> infuriating. </p><p>“The new <em>guy</em> you’re dating,” Jeonghan drawls, “Who is he?”</p><p>It takes Jihoon a moment too long to catch up with what he’s saying. Then <em>another</em> few moments to desperately flip through his mental Rolodex of noteworthy guys he’s met recently, trying to decide which one he knows well enough to lie about effectively. He has it narrowed down to <em>creepy man on the bus who I thought winked at me but actually had something in his eye</em> and <em>old man with cane that accidentally groped my ass. </em></p><p>It’s a pretty tragic list, truth be told, and there’s no point trying to make anyone up on the spot either because Seungkwan and Jeonghan are amongst his closest friends, and they know Jihoon's bullshit face too well.</p><p>In the end, all Jihoon can do is shake his head, shake himself out of it, and prevaricate, “Who said I’m dating anyone?”</p><p>Seungkwan tilts his head and his smile widens, as though Jihoon’s attempt to feign ignorance is cute, but ultimately fruitless. “Okay, allow me to rephrase. Who’s the guy you’ve been <em>ditching</em> us for all month?”</p><p>“Hey—I haven’t <em>ditched</em> you guys.” Jihoon gasps in quiet protest.</p><p>It feels insubstantial in a way that almost makes him want to cringe away from his own words. Because he knows it’s bullshit. He <em>knows</em> he’s been dropping the ball a lot on his friends lately, making up half-assed excuses so he could be free to do <em>other</em> things. <em>New-Werewolf-Friend</em> related things to be precise. He just hasn’t bothered to <em>tell</em> anyone about said Werewolf friend, which explains the weird ‘intervention’ in the supermarket he’s getting.</p><p>Jeonghan crosses his arms and leans against the shelf to his left, half blocking him in. “Yes, Hoonie, you have. You’ve missed Jisoo’s birthday party, the last three movie nights, and you haven’t come out drinking with us since <em>Halloween</em>; Wonwoo says he’s <em>this</em> close to kicking you out of his DnD group, and now Soonyoung tells me <em>you</em> told <em>him</em> the Universe Factory is off limits for the foreseeable future? I would call that ditching Jihoon.”</p><p>“And let’s not forget what Mingyu said,” Seungkwan adds quickly, “He said he spotted you in the park with this really buff dude, and when he went over to say hi, the guy growled at him and put him in a <em>headlock</em>.”</p><p>Jihoon barely suppresses a cringe. He <em>knew</em> that would come back to bite him in the ass one day—even though Mingyu had been a good sport about the growling, and the impromptu wrestling match, and Seungcheol <em>had</em> been really apologetic once he realised Mingyu wasn’t another large puppy for him to play with.</p><p>“Seriously? Wonwoo’s kicking me out of the DnD group?” He huffs, “What the hell, I was the one who <em>started</em> it. Who died and made him Dungeon Master?”</p><p>They both raise their eyebrows simultaneously, in a way that suggests Jihoon’s clever subtle subject change is not as subtle and clever as he had hoped. </p><p>Jihoon sighs. “Look guys, you’ve got it all wrong. I’ve just had a lot of work—”</p><p>“Oh no, don’t even try that,” Jeonghan holds up a hand, looking unimpressed. “You’ve <em>always</em> been studious Jihoon, and you’re as smart as they come, but we know it’s not study time keeping you busy this time. It’s <em>obviously</em> your new boyfriend, who <em>obviously</em> doesn’t like sharing you with us.”</p><p>Jihoon tries to wrap both his brain and his mouth around the word 'boyfriend,' and it's a damn near impossible task.</p><p>And, to be fair, he and Seungcheol haven’t actually <em>talked</em> about anything, haven’t made any declarations. The words <em>‘are we together now?’ </em>had not passed between them, because Jihoon just figured if a guy sleeps in your bed, eats your food, lets you pick out his clothes and wants to put his dick in you multiple times a week, you’re kind of past the point of <em>needing</em> that conversation.</p><p>Things have been going pretty good <em>without</em> that conversation actually, and putting a label on it, in Jihoon’s experience, is just an invitation for something to come along and fuck it up.</p><p>“It’s…it’s not like that. We’re not…boyfriends exactly.”</p><p>“Ah, so there <em>is</em> someone.” Jeonghan says, with obvious satisfaction.</p><p>“I knew it,” Seungkwan says, smacking him lightly on the arm. Then his smile becomes a little impish. “Alright. Who is he? And why haven’t you introduced him to us yet?”</p><p>Jihoon laughs, nervous now. “Well…uhm. He’s kind of… shy, and sensitive, about certain things. And he’s lived a pretty sheltered life, so it takes him a while to get comfortable around people. Don’t take this the wrong way, but I’m <em>kind of</em> worried you guys will scare him away.”</p><p>Jeonghan’s brow furrows in a distressed expression that almost makes Jihoon feel guilty.</p><p>“<em>Us</em>?”</p><p>“Yeah, you have to admit you guys can be pretty judgmental. Especially about people who don’t fit into your particular <em>mould</em> of ideal boyfriend.” Jihoon says, ignoring the part of his brain that points out a 39-year-old Werewolf was not exactly his dream boyfriend either.</p><p>Seungkwan gapes at him for a moment, and then says in a reined-in tone, “That’s a load of bull and you know it. You’ve always been the scariest, most judgmental out of all of us, so if you haven’t scared him away, I can’t see how we possibly could.”</p><p>Jihoon can't help but snort. </p><p>“Well now you’re <em>definitely</em> not meeting him.”</p><p>Jeonghan cocks his head to the side, calculating, before rolling his eyes with a truly impressive amount of sass, “Jihoon, c’mon—we’re your <em>friends</em>. We don’t care if he’s different. If you’re happy with him, if you <em>really</em> like him, we’ll accept that. We’ll be happy for you. We just want to <em>meet</em> him, and ideally sometime this century.”</p><p>Jihoon laughs and then presses his fingertips to his forehead.</p><p>“You kind of <em>met</em> him already.” He admits. When Jeonghan's eyebrows go up, Jihoon shuffles his feet and looks down at the ground. “It’s Seungcheol, you know…the guy I hooked up with at your Halloween party.”</p><p>Jeonghan’s brow pinches a moment, but just as quickly smooths again as a thought seems to occur to him. “Wait, seriously? The <em>Himbo</em>?”</p><p>“Yeah, that’s him,” Jihoon agrees with a fond smile before pausing, “Except, well, it turns out he’s not <em>really</em> a Himbo. He’s just a really easy going and socially oblivious guy; kind of down to earth in his own special way.”</p><p>Jeonghan’s lips purse thoughtfully, but his eyes are teasing. Whereas Seungkwan just gives him a flat, disbelieving look and says, “You don’t <em>have</em> to try and justify dating a Himbo, Jihoon—it’s cool. We’re not going to judge you.”</p><p>“But he’s <em>not</em> a Himbo, he’s actually really intelligent,” Jihoon protests. When Seungkwan and Jeonghan’s expressions slide from amused to sceptically amused, he adds loudly, “He is! He even had a scholarship to study Civil Engineering before he…”</p><p>“Before he what?”  </p><p>“Ah—” Jihoon says. He thinks about that for second. “Before he had to uhm, stop, unexpectedly.”</p><p>Seungkwan blinks and then sputters with laughter. “Ohh, so he’s a college <em>drop ou</em>t?</p><p>“Yeah, so? So what if he is?” Jihoon doesn't mean to make a challenge out of it, but he hears it in his voice just the same, feels it in the stubborn jut of his chin.</p><p>“Lots of people drop out of college. You almost dropped out too, if you recall, and Seungcheol had better reasons than sleeping with his <em>History prof</em>.”</p><p>Seungkwan puts his hands on his hips and gives him a look like a purified laser of disapproval. Jihoon pointedly examines his fingernails rather than Seungkwan's betrayed expression.</p><p>“Hey, look—” Jeonghan gives a slightly strangled laugh and tries to move things along, “It doesn’t matter if he’s dropped out of college Jihoon. What <em>matters</em> is…he doesn’t really sound like the <em>type</em> of guy you usually go for.”</p><p>Once again, Jihoon cringes inwardly because, <em>yeah</em>—Jeonghan’s got him there. Seungcheol is so far removed from his type it’s almost laughable. Before his life got flipped upside down, Seungcheol was, by his own definition, a total douchebag waiting to happen; he couldn’t wait to rush for the most exclusive Fraternity, was apparently both prom king and the captain of his high school basketball team, and before Jihoon introduced him to the wonders of Spotify, his favourite band was <em>Limp Bizkit.</em> He’s never played a computer game in his life, because back when he was in high school, only nerds did that, and though he claims never to have bullied anyone, Jihoon’s pretty sure that’s only because he was deeply hot and ridiculously overconfident; clearly the sort of cool ‘golden boy’ that transcended ever having to punch down.</p><p>Simply put, if Seungcheol hadn’t spent the last twenty years in the woods, living as a Werewolf, they would <em>not</em> be dating. </p><p>“Well, he isn’t. He’s really not my type at all—but I haven’t exactly had a great track record dating guys that <em>are</em> my type, so I thought I’d try something different. See how that goes. So far, it’s going pretty well. I…I really like him, and he really likes me. And…<em>yeah</em>.”</p><p>Jeonghan and Seungkwan exchange a thoughtful look, “Is that why you’ve been so reluctant to introduce him to us? You’re worried you’ll jinx it or something?”</p><p>Jihoon isn't sure what to say to that, so he shrugs, and hopes it doesn't look as awkward as it feels.</p><p>There’s a different look exchanged this time, followed by an appeased nod from Jeonghan, “Okay, we understand. New relationships <em>are…delicate,</em> hard to balance. We've been there, we get it. But look, we’re having Fondue Friday at mine this week and no pressure, but it would be nice to see your face. Your <em>boyfriend</em> is more than welcome too; I promise to be extra nice.”</p><p>The dubious looks he gets from both Jihoon <em>and</em> Seungkwan forces Jeonghan to revise that statement a second later.</p><p>“Okay, so I can’t promise <em>that</em>. But I’ll at least not be a jerk to his face.”</p><p>Jihoon snorts, smiling despite himself. “Thanks. I’ll mention it to him, but I can’t promise anything. He’s got his heart set on going to see the—”</p><p>“Have you lost weight?” Seungkwan interjects suddenly, leaning back to sweep his gaze up and down Jihoon’s body.</p><p>Jeonghan hums thoughtfully, mimicking the gesture. “Yeah, you’re right. He has.”</p><p>Jihoon half-smiles and pulls his jacket tighter around him, uncomfortable with how his body has suddenly become the centre of attention. “Uh, maybe a few pounds. So? What’s the big deal?”</p><p>“Nothing,” Seungkwan says, with a puzzled smile and a tilt of his head. “Just…I know you would never step foot in the gym, and I know how much you <em>hate</em> dieting. And now that I’m looking at you, it looks like you’ve lost a lot more than just a few pounds Jihoonie. I’m pretty sure those are the stupidly expensive 7 For All Mankind’s you bought last year that you couldn’t get past your thighs but were too embarrassed to return.”</p><p>Jihoon rolls his eyes, stung and trying to cover it. “I’m not on any kind of <em>extreme</em> diet if that’s what you’re getting at. I’m just a lot more active outdoors, and I’m eating healthier. That’s all.”</p><p>Jeonghan narrows his eyes at him, looking…shit, Jihoon doesn't know what to call that look. Curious? Concerned? Suspicious? Then he opens his mouth, points a finger at him and says, “Are you wearing make up?”</p><p>“Okay, I really have to go, catch you guys later.” Jihoon says, then grabs his basket and bolts before they can dissemble his entire <em>existence</em>.</p>
<hr/><p>Jihoon is careful to pocket his phone and set his grocery bags down by the door <em>before</em> he reaches for his keys, because okay, while he’s totally capable of multitasking under normal circumstances, the simple act of entering his dorm room has proven to be a lot more hazardous while trying to contend with 200 pounds of excitable puppy.</p><p>As it turns out, it’s a smart decision. </p><p>The second he pushes open the door, he feels a rush of wind as a figure blurs towards him and then he’s being yanked up off his feet and dragged into a crushing embrace.</p><p>And, ow, <em>ow</em>, Seungcheol is hugging him <em>extra</em> hard today, caging him in with inhumanely powerful arms. Jihoon’s too winded to lodge a formal protest though, so he gives in to being hugged and nuzzled enthusiastically, if somewhat painfully, and prays his health insurance will cover him for severe spinal laceration.</p><p>“You came just in time,” Seungcheol looks dizzily pleased when they finally part. “I almost ripped up your pillow.”</p><p>“Er, why?”</p><p>“Because I was so <em>worried</em> about you; you’ve been gone for so long.” Seungcheol whines, looking down at him with something dangerously close to a pout.</p><p>Jihoon blinks at him for a minute, then checks his watch, “I wasn’t even gone an <em>hour</em>.”</p><p>“Really?” Seungcheol blinks “Huh. Well, it <em>felt</em> a lot longer to me. It felt like forever. For a while, I wasn’t sure you’d come back at all, but you did. You came back again, and I’m really happy to see you. Oh man, I missed you so much!”</p><p>Jihoon sighs as he’s enveloped in <em>another</em> hug. Not precisely as bone crushing as before, but equally as lengthy. Honestly, he spends so much time getting hugged by Seungcheol now, he’s actually having to pencil it into his day.</p><p>But, hey—it’s a good way to warm up after coming in from the cold.</p><p>“If you keep this up, the ice-cream is going to melt.” Jihoon grumbles, when the hug crests the five- minute mark.</p><p>“Ice cream?” Seungcheol gasps, pulling back with an adorably hopeful look in his eyes.</p><p>Jihoon successfully fights down a smile, but he lets it creep into his tone. “That’s right. And if you pass your quiz, I’ll let you have three big scoops.” He narrows his eyes at Seungcheol’s nervous twitching ears, “You have been studying for your quiz, haven’t you Cheollie?”</p><p>Seungcheol blushes and devotes himself to examining his socks. </p><p>“I—I was, but then you left, and, and I got distracted when a bird landed on the tree outside, and so I went to growl at it. Then it flew away, and I got distracted when I spotted someone walking their dog, and then got distracted again by the same bird, and then when I got back to the laptop, the screensaver had started and, well—I don’t think I need to tell you what happened.”</p><p>Jihoon gives him a stern look, completely betrayed by the laughter in his eyes. “Well, you can redeem yourself by studying now while I prep dinner.”</p><p>Seungcheol’s head snaps up, eyes wide, “But I love watching you cook. And, and—isn’t cooking technically an important life skill that I should learn too? In fact, I think it’s probably more important that I learn how to cook through practice, then continue to learn about past historical events.”</p><p>Jihoon chews thoughtfully on the inside of his cheek. “Hmm, <em>technically</em> you’re right; cooking is an important life skill. But it’s equally important for you to learn this stuff too Cheol. You’ve missed out on a lot, and I don’t want you to come across something that will scare you without the proper context. Remember how confused you were when I showed you your first meme? Or how scared you were when you saw how much The Simpsons has changed?”</p><p>“I refuse to believe that’s the same show. It’s not even funny anymore.” Seungcheol says, and he sounds so resigned that Jihoon can’t help but smile at him.</p><p>“Okay, you can help me cook tonight. But I want you to try and do some studying tomorrow when I go to class. Got it?”</p><p>Seungcheol nods elaborately, then cranks the puppy-dog eyes up to 9000.</p><p>“Do…do I still get to have some ice cream tonight?”</p><p>Jihoon pulls a face at him, because seriously? Seriously?</p><p>As <em>if</em> he could say no.</p>
<hr/><p>The next day, Seungcheol gets a good boy sticker for passing his quiz on ‘Key political alliances of the 21<sup>st</sup> Century’. Then he loses three good boy stickers in the very same instant for swallowing Jihoon’s AirPods, because he thought they were good boy treats. </p><p>Unsurprisingly, living in the wilderness as a feral animal doesn’t prepare you for life in the 21<sup>st</sup> century. Or, well, <em>any</em> century probably. Despite his first impression of the guy, Seungcheol’s not actually a Himbo, or even mildly stupid—he’s clearly very intelligent when he applies himself, it’s just that he’s also missed out on a lot of stuff in two decades he’s been secluded in the woods. A lot of important life and social skills you can’t pick up from staring at a laptop in the confines of a dorm room.</p><p>They’re getting there though, slowly but surely, and Jihoon is privately impressed at how much patience <em>he</em> has for the whole endeavour.</p><p>Even if it has taken weeks for Seungcheol to learn important lessons like—not all balls are your balls, and not all Frisbees are your Frisbees, and just because a guy jogging in the park slows down to give you a slow once over, he isn’t silently goading you into a wrestling match for dominance. He’s probably checking you out, cause you’re hot. Please stop crushing his windpipe.</p><p>Over the past six weeks, it’s become somewhat of a personal project for Jihoon, helping Seungcheol get back on his feet, helping him readjust to human life. It wasn’t immediately apparent how feral Seungcheol had become until Jihoon had set a bowl of Chicken noodle soup down in front of him, and instead of reaching for the spoon Jihoon had set out, he’d stuck his whole face into the bowl. But as appalling as that had been, proper use of cutlery actually turned out to be one of the ‘quick fixes’ in the end. Those every-day tasks that rely on muscle memory haven’t completely vanished, they’ve just been hibernating for a while, and need a little gentle prodding to kick start them.</p><p>It’s the things that rely on <em>procedural</em> memory that have proven to be the biggest obstacles. Because while there may be a deceptively intelligent human male under there somewhere, Seungcheol’s still…well, he’s still also a <em>Werewolf</em>, and that part of him never switches off.</p><p>Like, ever.</p><p>He stiffens up over the tiniest of sounds, perks up at the sight or smell of food, <em>sniffs</em> the air at random intervals, and if something red crosses his path, oh shit, you better believe he’ll want to chase after it.</p><p>And all that’s just on a <em>regular</em> day. A good boy day.</p><p>On the day of and leading up to a full moon, his Werewolfy side <em>intensifies</em>. He’s never outwardly aggressive or dangerous to be around, and he still demonstrates a remarkable control over his shifting abilities, but he does get alarmingly hungry….as well as 400% hornier.</p><p>Jihoon just has to smile for him to take off all his clothes and move them over to the bed, and if Jihoon ever decides to lounge about in shorts…</p><p>Well, apparently that’s an invitation to get his <em>ass</em> eaten out.</p><p>Which, okay, Jihoon’s not complaining—he’s deliberately been wearing shorts more often than not—but he’s also gone from having a squeaky clean dorm rep for two years running to twenty-two noise complaints in one semester and that’s kind of mortifying.</p>
<hr/><p>Jihoon would never have admitted to following a certain style before. Or having <em>any</em> sense of fashion actually. He doesn’t have the time or inclination to care about what’s fashionable these days—or what’s so fashionable it’s <em>unfashionable</em> and vice versa—he just wears what he’s most comfortable in and fuck everyone else’s opinion.</p><p>Saying that, there are still <em>certain</em> shops he would never step foot in. Because he <em>knows</em> what he likes—hoodies, tracksuits, converse, the occasional pair of skinny jeans if he has to make more of an effort—and the outdoor clothing outlet he’s found himself browsing through offers <em>none</em> of that.</p><p>Okay, that’s not necessarily true. There are a <em>few</em> items of clothing he could picture himself wearing, a stupidly soft fleecy jacket he’s actually kind of tempted to buy, but everything else looks like it belongs in the wardrobe of some middle-aged <em>lumberjack. </em></p><p>He only ventured in here because Seungcheol needed more winter appropriate clothing, and while the guy was more than happy to continue letting Jihoon pick out what he wears, Jihoon didn’t want to imprint his personal style, or lack thereof, on him forever. So today, he let Seungcheol choose where to shop next and, yeah…</p><p>Turns out Seungcheol likes dressing like a middle-aged lumberjack.  </p><p>It’s kind of hilarious in a way, but infinitely practical too, seeing as Seungcheol <em>does</em> spend so much time in the great outdoors and he <em>does</em> need something sturdier than t-shirts and jeans, and while they’re here, crimping Jihoon’s style, Jihoon thinks he might as well splurge and by himself the pair of hiking boots he’s been telling himself he <em>won’t</em> need.</p><p>He <em>does</em> need them.</p><p>That became apparent the first time Seungcheol took him for a jaunt in the woods and he ended up hitching a piggyback ride three quarters of the way there and the whole way back. And anyway, there’s only so many hikes through the woods a pair of tattered Converse can withstand, and with an excitable, energetic Werewolf in his life now, hiking boots are <em>probably</em> a good investment. Even if they do look atrocious. </p><p>Of course, buying a pair is easier said than done; Jihoon has really small feet (fuck you) and all the hiking boots in the men’s aisle only seem to come in sizes ‘well-endowed Lumberjack’ and ‘super well-endowed Lumberjack plus’, so finding a pair that won’t need multiple layers of extra thick socks is proving impossible.  </p><p>He searches vainly for something closer to his size (no luck ☹️), then moves down to the women’s section (no luck there either ☹️☹️), then ends up digging through all the cardboard boxes on display for twenty minutes before he enlists the help of a stock-boy who goes into the back and <em>finally</em> emerges with one dented dusty box of size five boots.</p><p>“Here, these are the smallest pair I could find,” says the stock-boy flatly as he shoves the box in Jihoon’s direction, clearly ruing the day that he decided to make eye contact with him.</p><p>Jihoon gets pink in the face before he notices the price sticker on the box. What a <em>steal</em>. This pair of boots are less than <em>half</em> the price of all the other pairs he tried on, and they’re a better brand too. Not to mention way cooler, with bright blue laces and cute little bears imprinted on the soles of…</p><p>“Hey—these aren’t supposed to be for kids, are they?” Jihoon begins to ask doubtfully, but the stock-boy is gone before he can even look up. Vanished.</p><p><em>Dick</em>.</p><p>Jihoon tries not to pout as he laces up his boots. Annoyingly, they’re super comfortable and fit like a dream. And they look even better matched with that stupidly soft fleecy jacket. It’s a tad too long on the sleeves and comes down to his thighs, but he thinks he could totally pull it off—</p><p>“Please tell me this is another dare, and you’re not planning on <em>buying</em> that.”</p><p>“Minghao, hey—how’s it going?” Jihoon says. It comes out as kind of a squeak, but Jihoon can't help it.</p><p>Minghao shakes his head sadly, though it’s clear he's holding in a laugh with concentrated effort.</p><p>“Fine until I saw you put on <em>that</em> and do a little <em>twirl</em> in the mirror. We talked about this Jihoonie; if you finally decide to start making smart fashion choices, you come to <em>me</em>. I would be more than happy to take you shopping. It’s been my life-long <em>dream</em> in fact—to get you out of those hideous tracksuits you live in and into some decent clothes, and you clearly can’t be trusted to make the right choices yourself if <em>this</em> is where you end up.”</p><p>Jihoon gives a snort that probably sounds suspiciously watery. “Hey, I wasn’t going to <em>buy</em> it, I was…I was just seeing what it would look like with my new boots.”</p><p>Minghao blinks owlishly, then looks down at Jihoon’s feet with those critical eyes and <em>frowns</em>. The amused twist to his mouth signals that he’s already abandoned hope for all future joint shopping expeditions.</p><p>“Why are you wearing those? Are you a lumberjack now? Do you work in construction? Or are you just trying to make me cry?”</p><p>“I need them,” Jihoon blushes. “For <em>hiking</em>.”</p><p>He knows Minghao's face well enough to know he thinks that’s a big fat lie.</p><p>“I’m sorry, what? You go <em>hiking</em> now?”</p><p>“Yeah, it’s uhm, good exercise. And there’s a lot of cool trails around campus I never knew about. I figured I should take advantage of them while I have some time on my hands.”</p><p>Minghao’s shaking his head slowly now, like that just <em>does not compute.</em></p><p>“But you <em>hate</em> exercise Hoonie.”</p><p>“No, I don’t.” Jihoon huffs defensively. “I just hate the monotony of the gym. I hate doing the same kind of exercise in a room full of sweaty, judgemental people. Hiking’s different. Every trail is different. It’s like an adventure when I go hiking. You should try it out some time.”</p><p>Minghao gives him a hard look, as if to <em>see</em> through the bluster.  </p><p>“Huh. I guess Jeonghan was right—you have changed Jihoonie.”</p><p>Jihoon balks. “What? Really? <em>Hannie</em> said that?”</p><p>“Well, <em>yeah</em>, but he wasn’t <em>bitching</em> about it,” Minghao says diplomatically. He shoots Jihoon a smile. “I think he’s just worried about you because you seem to be…I don’t know, dipping on everyone a lot more than usual? I mean, I think we all knew hard partying was never really <em>your</em> thing, but when it was just all of us hanging out at Hannie’s, you were always up for that, you know. Now you’re always busy, or tired, and we hardly see you online anymore, and well, a few of the guys seem to think this ‘new boyfriend’ of yours is maybe a tad <em>controlling</em>.”</p><p>Jihoon opens his mouth to protest that, when he spots Seungcheol lurking at the bottom of the aisle, trying to blend in with the mannequins. He looks hesitant, like he’s debating whether to approach or not, so Jihoon smiles warmly and waves him over. Then does a double-take when he notices the shirt he’s wearing.</p><p>He didn’t think the plaid flannel monstrosity Seungcheol picked out would look good on anyone, but Seungcheol seems to have this envious ability to make the ugliest clothes look <em>hot</em>. The cut is perfect, and if anything, the eyesore of a pattern just emphasizes the breadth of his biceps and shoulders.</p><p>“It…it looks really good,” Jihoon swallows, inspecting him from all angles, “Do <em>you</em> like it?”</p><p>Seungcheol nods with his whole head.</p><p>A big <em>yes</em>.</p><p>“Great. Well, go get changed and I’ll meet you at the checkout.” Jihoon says, ushering him along until he notices Minghao dividing a look between them, clearly mystified. “Oh uhm, Cheollie, say hi to Minghao. Minghao, this is Seungcheol, my boyfriend—”</p><p>Jihoon barely gets the last word out before Minghao’s hip checking him out of the way with an enthusiastic, “Wow. Hi. It’s nice to finally meet you!”</p><p>Seungcheol looks briefly alarmed by Minghao’s enthusiasm, but he holds out a hand and rolls with it, “Hello Minghao, it is nice to meet you also. I am Seungcheol, Jihoon’s boyfriend. I am twenty years old and I am from Daegu and I like football and soccer, and extreme sports. My favourite food is pizza, and my favourite colour is red.” He takes a breath before adding, “I am <em>not</em> a werewolf.”</p><p>Huffing out a frustrated sigh, Jihoon closes his eyes and scrubs his hand down over the bridge of his nose. </p><p>This is exactly why he's been…well, not avoiding his friends, exactly. Just avoiding being in situations where his friends might have the opportunity to notice how <em>weird</em> Seungcheol is. Although, to be completely fair, those little info drops seem to have been pulled straight out of the character sheet Jihoon had prepared for Seungcheol—in case he got asked any questions on campus. </p><p>So, you know, at least he’s <em>trying</em> to be act normal.</p><p>“That’s…that’s awesome,” Minghao says with a faint, bemused smile. Then, in a moment of unbelievable awkwardness, undoubtedly brought on by his sheer astonishment, he reaches up and gives the hem of Seungcheol’s shirt a little tug, “Nice shirt. It really suits you.”</p><p>“Thanks.” Seungcheol says, grinning wide and proud as he heads back towards the changing rooms.</p><p>When he finally rounds the corner and out of sight, Jihoon opens his mouth, preparing to make the usual excuses about a sheltered upbringing, as well as a few lies about potential brain damage from being dropped repeatedly on the head as a child, only for Minghao to grab him by the shoulders and talk over him, almost breathlessly.</p><p>“Oh god, Jihoonie, he’s really <em>hot</em>. Please tell me he has a brother.”</p><p>Jihoon huffs surprised amusement.</p><p>Minghao has apparently (thank god) choosing to ignore Seungcheol’s words in favour of being <em>blindsided </em>by his hotness<em>.</em> Which is, okay, terribly shallow and objectifying of him, but Jihoon’s going to have to let it slide this time.</p><p>Its not like <em>he</em> has the moral high ground here—not when he did the very same thing once.</p>
<hr/><p>Jihoon grinds his teeth, pinches the bridge of his nose for the second time that day and sighs. “I’m sorry Cheollie, truly. If I knew it would upset you <em>this</em> much, I wouldn’t have told you.”</p><p>Seungcheol grunts but doesn’t move away from the corner of the room.</p><p>The corner of the room <em>he’s</em> chosen to seclude himself in, because he’s very disappointed with the world.</p><p>“Well, it’s too late. I know now, and there’s no going back. This is officially the worst thing that’s ever happened to me. I almost wish I was still living in the woods, oblivious to all this horror.”</p><p>Jihoon makes a face at him behind his back, “Don’t you think that’s a little <em>too</em> melodramatic—”</p><p>Seungcheol twists to pout at him, “No, Jihoon, I don’t. I think this is a perfectly reasonable reaction. It’s not fair okay, it’s just not fair. And why though? Why? <em>Why</em> would something like this be allowed? Why did nobody think—<em>wait, this is crazy, we can’t do this</em>—and put a stop to it? How could they just…<em>let</em> this happen?”</p><p>Jihoon shrugs weakly, “I don’t know, but I suppose greed would be the most obvious reason. Money makes the world go round, that much hasn’t changed…But if it’s any consolation, the Point Break remake was heavily panned. All the critics hated it. The original is still considered to be the superior Point Break.”</p><p>“That…that actually <em>does</em> make me feel a <em>little</em> better.” Seungcheol murmurs, sounding slightly less world weary. Sighing, he moves back over to the bed and takes a seat, “Okay, I think I’m ready to hear more. What other shitty remakes I should know about?”</p><p>After <em>that</em> explosive reaction, Jihoon contemplates just lying to him.</p><p>Telling Seungcheol he’d missed out on 20 years of entertainment and technological advancements is not going down as well as he imagined. Sure, there were all the usual emotions you’d expect: shock, awe, amazement—Seungcheol was blown away by his I-phone, and the concept of Netflix, and the Marvel Cinematic Universe now holds such a special place in his heart, Jihoon had to buy him a Captain America T-shirt to shut him up. But there were also a few emotions surfacing Jihoon was not expecting: confusion, denial, disappointment. And anger. Lots of anger. Mostly over the lack of <em>originality</em> Hollywood was demonstrating, and the heavy reliance of CGI for basic special effects.</p><p>Lying right now is the kindest thing Jihoon could do, but with so much of Seungcheol’s free time spent on exploring the wonders of the internet, it’s only a matter of time before he finds out about what Hollywood did to Total Recall, Robocop and…oh god, Ghostbusters.</p><p>“Unfortunately, too many. There’s been a massive drive for prequels and sequels and spin-off movies for almost every popular film franchise ever. It’s crazy. There’s like eight Terminator sequels now…and twelve Star Wars films.”</p><p>“<em>Twelve</em>.” Seungcheol mouths silently. “It feels like just last week I was queuing up with my brother to watch…I think it might have been the forth one? I can’t remember; it’s got that guy with the red spiky face on the poster.”</p><p>“Ooh, The Phantom Menace.” </p><p>“Yeah, yeah, that’s it,” Seungcheol laughs, clicking his fingers. “Damn, I remember there was so much hype over it, but all I kept thinking was, wow, this movie is really long and really <em>shit</em>. You should have quit while you were ahead <em>Lucas</em>.”</p><p>Jihoon giggles, “Yeah, well, they got even longer and <em>shitter</em>. In a way, you should be happy you managed to avoid Hayden Christensen’s terrible wooden performance as Anakin Skywalker. He was the <em>worst</em> thing about the prequels. Uh, after Jar Jar Binks, <em>obviously</em>.”  </p><p>Seungcheol makes a vague noise of frustration and flops down on Jihoon’s bed, his head coming to rest right next to Jihoon’s thigh. This, Jihoon knows, is both a shameless petition for a cuddle and to intensify his delivery of the puppy dog eyes, because while Jihoon is not the cuddliest of individuals, Seungcheol most definitely is, and the puppy dog eyes are the best way to secure said cuddling.</p><p>And it <em>works</em>—every single time. Jihoon leans back against the headboard and holds out his hands, which, as expected, Seungcheol takes as an invitation to immediately drape himself all over his lower half. Like a giant, sulky blanket.</p><p>“So much has <em>changed</em> Jihoon, I don’t know if I can keep up with it all. When I was on college, The Rock was a fake wrestler in the WWF. Now it’s called the WWE and he’s not ‘The Rock’ anymore—he’s Dwayne Johnson and he’s in every fucking movie. What the hell is going on?” He trails off and shakes his head ruefully. “How can so much change around me without me realising it?”</p><p>Jihoon hesitates only an instant before combing his fingers through the silky black hair, “Hey, don’t beat yourself up about it Cheollie, you’ve learnt more things in the last six weeks then most people do in a lifetime. You’ll catch up with it all eventually, you just need time.”</p><p>Seungcheol grumbles something and nuzzles his cheek against Jihoon’s thigh, clearly content to just lie there and bask in the moment. Jihoon’s perfectly content to just <em>let</em> him.</p><p>Six weeks ago, he would have found it near impossible to imagine himself doing something so ordinary and domestic. Now there’s something almost <em>gratifying</em> about it. </p><p>His sinks his fingers into Seungcheol’s hair, combing through carefully, tickling the ridge of a furry ear with every pass. He’ll need another hair cut soon, Jihoon determines, even though Jihoon cut his hair just last week. Apparently a werewolves regenerative abilities aren’t solely confined to their injuries, but entwined in <em>every</em> aspect of their molecular DNA: the deepest wound will heal over, a broken tooth will be replaced by another overnight, and ridiculously floofy hair will grow back just as ridiculously floofy as ever.  </p><p>“I called Seungmin.” Seungcheol says eventually, soft in the hush of the room.</p><p>Jihoon doesn’t register the remark immediately, simply nodding several times before he realizes the import of Seungcheol's words. “Wait, what? You did?”</p><p>“I didn’t <em>speak</em> to him,” Seungcheol tells him, in a voice that sounds rougher than usual. “I just, you know—dialled the number and heard his voice. But I couldn’t myself to say anything, so I ended up hanging up on him again. I’m so pathetic.”</p><p>“No, Cheollie, you’re not,” Jihoon says decisively, “It’s just a really hard conversation to have, especially over the phone. He’s probably gotten so many fake leads, there’s no guarantee he’ll believe who you are, even you do manage to sound super convincing. That’s why I still think a face-to-face meeting is the best option.”</p><p>“Yeah, I think you’re right.” Seungcheol says, sitting up.</p><p>“Really?” Jihoon smiles helplessly back at him, because they’ve had variations of this conversation before, and it’s always ended in a firm ‘No’.</p><p>Seungcheol tilts his head in acknowledgement, “I’ve been <em>thinking</em> about it, and you’re right, what’s the worst that could happen? Sure, he could call me an imposter and tell me to scram, but then at least I tried to reach out.” He looks troubled suddenly. “I’d feel better about it than constantly ghost calling him.”</p><p>“He’s not going to tell you to scram Cheol—he’s <em>going</em> to recognise you,” Jihoon assures him. “And <em>okay</em>, it will be awkward explaining why you haven’t aged in the last twenty years and why you’re now a werewolf, but he’s not going to care. He’s your <em>brother</em>.”</p><p>"...Okay then," Seungcheol nods. He looks oddly shy. “Will—” He begins, then clears his throat because his voice is rough. “W-will you come with me?”</p><p>“Of course,” Jihoon laughs, disbelieving and tender. “Of course, I’m coming with you, you <em>moron</em>. Jesus, as if I’d really let you get the bus by yourself.”</p><p>“Hey,” Seungcheol protests, drawing himself up and puffing out his chest, “I could totally get the bus myself. I used to get the bus by myself even back when I was in grade school.”</p><p>Jihoon offers him a crooked grin, “<em>Yeah,</em> but that was <em>before</em> you got bit. Now you chase <em>after</em> the bus.”</p><p>Seungcheol gasps in mock-offence and Jihoon laughs a little before sobering.</p><p>“Jokes aside, I’m really proud of you Cheollie. You’re being a very brave puppy. In fact, I’m so proud of you, we’re going to have steak for dinner tonight. And chocolate fudge brownies and ice cream for dessert, <em>and</em> I’m going to let you pick what movie we watch.”</p><p>Seungcheol fits pumps the air, grinning, “Yes! I wanna watch The Lion King.”</p><p>“Should have guessed,” Jihoon says on a mock-sigh. Then he thinks back over the sentence and frowns, “Wait, which one? The 1994 animation, or the Live action film?”</p><p>Seungcheol’s smile falters, just a little.</p><p>“What? What do you <em>mean</em> live action film?”</p><p>Oh no.</p><p>“Uh, what? I don’t know what you’re talking about, I didn’t say that.” Jihoon laughs weakly, trying to backtrack.</p><p>The growing indignation on Seungcheol’s face suggests he’s doing a spectacularly shitty job of it. Seungcheol’s almost looking as outraged now as when he found out about ‘The Impossible Burger’, which is saying a lot. Plant based meat alternatives in a Werewolf diet is, unsurprisingly, pretty fucking controversial territory. </p><p>“Are you serious? There’s a live action Lion King movie now?” Seungcheol throwing his hand up now, huffing, “That doesn’t even make any sense. How do you have a live action film with fucking lions? How? How do real life lions talk, and sing, and how do they not <em>eat</em> all the other animals in the savannah?”</p><p>“Well, they were mostly CGI lions actually.” Jihoon offers around sympathetic grimace, which, yeah, that just makes everything <em>worse</em>.</p><p>“<em>What</em>!”</p><p>“Hey, is that a squirrel?”</p><p>Seungcheol tenses, wolf ears perking up instinctively. But instead of whipping his head around to look out the window, he narrows his eyes and frowns at Jihoon—hard enough that his whole <em>face</em> is furrowed. It shouldn't be half as cute as it actually is.</p><p>“Jihoon…Are you trying to distract me?”</p><p>Jihoon bites the inside of his cheek to stop from smiling, “No, I swear, I’m pretty sure I saw a squirrel in that tree. A big one.”</p><p>Seungcheol does whip his head around this time, then bounds over to the window to press his nose against the glass.</p><p>“There better fucking not be! I told those squirrels to leave town!”</p>
<hr/><p>“Tomorrow night. Eight pm. My room. Bring your wand.”</p><p>Jihoon stops shoving books in his bag to look up at where Wonwoo has suddenly appeared next to his desk.</p><p>“Uh, I’m going to need a little more context Wonu.”</p><p>“I need a fourth person for my Harry Potter DnD night. I mean, I can totally DM a game with three, but it's just not as much fun. So yeah, my place tomorrow night, I’m giving you an opportunity to redeem yourself.” Wonwoo says with a solemn nod.</p><p>“Oh, wow, <em>thank you</em>,” Jihoon clears his throat and attempts—but not very hard—to look like he’s genuinely touched by the offer, before deadpanning, “<em>Pass</em>.”</p><p>Wonwoo makes a constipated face somewhere between offended and openly horrified. </p><p>He clearly thinks Jihoon has nothing better to do—or maybe that nothing could possibly top an evening of fictional Harry PotterVerse exploits. Wonwoo needs to get out more.</p><p>“Excuse me? What to do you mean—<em>pass</em>?”</p><p>“It means I’m passing up on your offer,” Jihoon says, shouldering his rucksack. And because Wonwoo’s still staring at him like he’s gifted him a turd for Christmas, “I’ve already got plans tomorrow night. I’m baking Christmas cookies to decorate my Christmas Tree with.”</p><p>“<em>Right</em>,” Wonwoo says, eyes narrowing.</p><p>He clearly finds this argument unconvincing, and a moment later, he uncaps his water bottle and squirts it in Jihoon’s direction yelling, “THE POWER OF CHRIST COMPELS YOU!”</p><p>Jihoon leaps back to avoid the spill, but it’s too late—he’s got a chilly dose of it splashed over his face and dripping down the front of hoodie.</p><p>“Wonwoo, what the hell!”                               </p><p>Wonwoo just looks <em>sadly</em> down at his water.</p><p>“Sorry, I was trying to exorcize you. I thought you were being possessed by the spirit of Martha Stewart.” He caps the bottle, thank fuck, but his squinty look just gets <em>squinty-er</em>, “Since when do you bake cookies?”</p><p>He’s looking at Jihoon as if seeing him for the very first time, and Jihoon feels a hot flush spread over his face. Which is just unfair. Wonwoo is the one who walks around campus carrying a cape and wand, perpetually ready to duel the living daylights out of anyone who gives him ‘Death Eater Vibes’. There's no way <em>Jihoon</em> should be the one feeling embarrassed right now.</p><p>“I just thought it would be a fun, festive activity to take part in,” Jihoon murmurs, palming the back of his neck and jamming the other hand in his pants pocket. He hesitates, and then thinks, to hell with it, “And, well, Seungcheol found this recipe online he wanted to try, and there’s no <em>way</em> I’d let leave him in the kitchen unsupervised.”</p><p>Wonwoo hitches his chin up in a kind of half-nod. “Your new boyfriend?”</p><p>“Yeah. He’s…<em>yeah</em>.” Jihoon says, fumbling in his valiant attempt to sound casual. It’s pointless; he's pretty sure the inflection in his voice is coming across horribly love-struck and dreamy, but instead of teasing him about that, Wonwoo just says:</p><p>“I don’t like him.”</p><p>Jihoon rolls his eyes and gives him a light push. “Don’t be a dick man, you’ve never <em>met</em> him. Not in person, at least. You can’t just…<em>dislike</em> someone you’ve never met.”</p><p>Wonwoo crosses his arms over his chest belligerently. “I’ve never met Mussolini either, and nobody seems to have a problem with me not liking him.”</p><p>“My boyfriend is not a fascist dictator!” Jihoon argues, voice a little too high-pitched for the ‘quiet room’ in the library. A moment later, he calms himself enough to recalibrate, “I know you think he’s <em>automatically</em> going to be a jerk because he’s super built or whatever, but he’s not, okay. Cheol’s actually really funny, and sweet and easy going. I actually think <em>you </em>of all people could really like him if you gave him a chance; he’s got a lot of energy and, and a really great imagination.” Then he recalibrates some more. “You know, he actually reminds me of Hagrid in some ways—personality wise, I mean.”</p><p>There’s a smile tugging at Wonwoo’s mouth now. An, oh my god, I ❤️ HAGRID smile. It’s a warmer look than Jihoon’s used to seeing on him.</p><p>“Then why don’t you come tomorrow night and bring him along? Give us a chance to meet him?”</p><p>Jihoon’s about a minute away from saying, <em>sure, why the hell not</em>, but he can already imagine how that night would go.</p><p>
  <em>Hi guys, this is Seungcheol. Sorry about the growling, he does that sometimes. And you better hide those snacks unless you want them eaten in five seconds flat. His eyes are red? That’s because he’s wearing contacts, and no, that’s not a tail he’s got wrapped around his waist, that’s a belt. A furry belt. Please don’t touch it, he’s very protective of his belts. He’s protective of his hair too, so please don’t ruffle it Junhui, and oh, crap, Wonwoo, I told you to keep Mr McWhiskerson in your room, now the growling will never stop. No, Seungcheol, don’t! Those aren’t good boy treats, they’re the dice, they’re not edible! Aw dammit. Someone fetch me a laxative!</em>
</p><p>Yeah, that’s the kind of fun filled evening with friends he would enjoy—literally never.</p><p>“Maybe next time.” Jihoon demurs with a sheepish smile, “And hey, if the baking attempt goes well, I’ll even bring some cookies. Ooh, actually—I made this really good hummus dip the other day that would be really nice with those…HEY!”</p><p>Gritting his teeth, Jihoon swipes his sleeve over his face, “Okay. If you spray me with water <em>one</em> more time Wonu, I swear to god I will break your fingers.”</p><p>Wonwoo recaps his bottle sheepishly, “I was just making sure.”</p>
<hr/><p>The cookies are a success!</p><p>Well, the third batch is, at least.</p><p>Jihoon might have been harbouring under the delusion that a hotter oven would cook them <em>faster</em>, so batch one burnt to a crisp, and he made the rookie mistake of adding <em>way</em> too many chocolate chips in the second batch, so there wasn’t enough actual dough to hold the cookie together, but hey—third time’s the charm.</p><p>He arranges them on the cooling rack to cool and heads back to his room, but not before leaving a threatening note for his dorm-mates, in case, you know, they’re stupid enough to think about helping themselves.</p><p>Seungcheol’s standing at the window when he enters, nose pressed up against the glass and tail sticking out stiffly behind him, which usually means one of three things: there’s a <em>squirrel</em> taunting him from the tree, there’s a <em>bird</em> taunting him from the tree, or—</p><p>“What’s up Cheol? Is that stray cat taunting you from the tree again?”</p><p>Seungcheol shakes his head with a soft chuff, not moving from his spot by the window, “No, it’s uh—it’s <em>snowing</em>.”  </p><p>“Ooh,” Jihoon grins, nudging him over to get a look at the thick flakes blowing horizontally in the wind. Snow, proper blanketing heaps of it, is one of his favourite things about winter. It’s a universally agreed blank cheque for laziness, and somewhat of a novelty here in the city, especially when it’s still so white and gleaming and untouched. Shame it’ll be reduced to a muddy, trampled mess first thing tomorrow.</p><p>Still, it’s really pretty to look at, and he’s surprised Seungcheol isn’t already bounding out the door, asking to go out and play in it, except when he turns to look at him, there’s almost a distressed look on the guy’s face.</p><p>“What’s wrong? You don’t like snow?”</p><p>Seungcheol gives a non-committal shrug, though his wolf ears twitch fretfully, “It’s alright. I mean, I guess it <em>is</em> pretty magical to look at, but when you’re out there, and it’s, you know, <em>everywhere</em>, and it makes it really hard to find food, it can be a real pain in the ass.” The frown marring his brow on his face suddenly gives way to a goofy laugh, “Oh god, this one time, it snowed so hard I couldn’t find my cave and I had to find another cave to sleep in, but it was filled with bears! They were <em>not</em> happy I interrupted their hibernation.”</p><p>Jihoon feels a hollow kick in his chest.</p><p>He fights to repress its effect for all of five seconds, before he just <em>can’t</em> anymore, and has to lean over and envelope Seungcheol in a tight hug.</p><p>Seungcheol hugs him back eagerly, though there’s a bewildered expression on his face that indicated he has no idea <em>why</em> he deserves a hug. Like he doesn’t know that story is officially the saddest thing ever.</p><p>Jihoon can still feel tears building in his eyes when they pull back, and slips out of the room to collect himself under the guise of checking on the cookies. When he returns with a plateful and two glasses of milk, Seungcheol has abandoned the window in favour of the laptop, which is quickly abandoned in favour of <em>cookies</em>.</p><p>Jihoon waits until he’s successfully scoffed down half the plate, before saying, “Can I ask you something?”</p><p>“Uh, sure.” Seungcheol nods and stops eating immediately, leaving nothing but silence for Jihoon to fill.</p><p>Jihoon takes a moment to formulate the question in his mind before he takes Seungcheol’s hand and squeezes. “Why were you out there for so long? I mean, I know you kind of lost track of time, but it still must have felt like a long time for you. Why didn’t you try to reach out and contact someone, let them know what happened?”</p><p>Seungcheol looks at him in surprise. “I <em>did</em> try—I tried a lot. But I kept scaring everyone I met away. I didn’t always have such a good grip on my transformation you know, I had to <em>learn</em> how to control it, and that took—well, honestly, I don’t know how long that took, but it felt like a long time before I could finally turn myself back at will. By then, so much time had passed, I was too scared to leave the woods. And the few times I thought about it, Hyun-Woo would talk me out of it. He kept saying, don’t be an idiot Seungcheol, nobody’s going to be your friend now.”</p><p>“Uh,” Jihoon hesitates, caught out, “Who the hell is Hyun-Woo?”</p><p>Seungcheol blinks, “Oh, he’s the werewolf that bit me. The one who turned me into one.”</p><p>“W-why is this the first time I’m hearing about this guy?” Jihoon says, keeping his tone and expression carefully measured even as this new information throws him for a loop. </p><p>“I dunno, I guess it’s because I didn’t really like him, so I try to avoid thinking about him when I can.” Seungcheol says with a weak laugh. He pauses a moment, then frowns like he’s remembering something awful, “That guy was the biggest jerk ever. He used to hog all the rabbits, and keep all the nice sticks for himself, and if I ever found a cool ball, and left in my cave for safekeeping, he would go in there while I was out hunting, steal it and pretend it was his all along.”</p><p>“That son of a bitch!” Jihoon hisses, indignant on Seungcheol’s behalf.</p><p>Seungcheol chuffs harshly in agreement, “I know, right?”</p><p>Jihoon clenches his hands into fists. Tiny as they are, he’s going to use them to beat the ever-loving shit out of Hyun-Woo for stealing Seungcheol’s sticks and balls, and also for turning him into a werewolf and emotionally blackmailing him.</p><p>Now, if only there’s a way he could get his hands on some tranquilizers to incapacitate the guy first…</p><p>“Wait,” Jihoon blurts out as the thought occurs to him, “Is he still <em>out</em> there?”</p><p>Seungcheol shakes his head, frowning lightly, “No, he…he died a long time ago.”</p><p>“How? I thought with your healing abilities, Werewolves could...”</p><p>He tapers off and leaves Seungcheol to extrapolate the rest of the question. He’s surprised at the dry bark of laughter, but Seungcheol’s face stays guarded.</p><p>“We’re not immortal Jihoon; we die eventually, just like everyone else, it just takes us a long time to get there. And Hyun-Woo was really old. And I mean like, <em>super</em> old. You couldn’t tell from just looking at him of course; he didn’t look much older than I do right now actually, but you could see it in his eyes that he’d been around for a long time.” He lifts his head up to glance out the window. “I think that’s why he bit me. I mean, we hardly ever talked, and he never actually gave me his reasons, but I figure he must have known his time was coming to an end, and he didn’t want to be alone when it happened.”</p><p>He leaves it there, like he doesn’t know how many intense emotions he’s just triggered in Jihoon’s mind.</p><p>Jihoon’s still working through some of them a minute later when Seungcheol pipes up again.</p><p>“Just so you know, had we met earlier, and had Hyun-Woo tried to steal you too, I would have ripped his throat out,” He ears flicker in that way when he gets all shy, “I like you a lot more than I like balls.”</p><p>“Thank you Cheollie, that’s …that’s really sweet.” Jihoon says, swallowing thickly. He feels a little overwhelmed, and his eyes are stinging, because while that might be the weirdest compliment he’s ever gotten, it’s also the nicest too. </p>
<hr/><p><em>Peace and goodwill to all mankind, my ass</em>—Jihoon thinks wearily as he looks upon the battlefield of the market stalls in front of him.</p><p>The little huts have been decorated beautifully, heavily laden with fairy lights and wreathes and candy canes, and the music jingling away in the background is almost soothing, but the cosy, festive effect the organisers were probably aiming for is rather dampened by the hundreds of harassed shoppers shoving past each other, almost every single one looking like they'd knock unconscious any person who slowed them down for even a minute. Jihoon is not looking forward to being in the centre of the inevitable stampede. </p><p>He’s not even looking to <em>buy</em> anything if he’s being honest, having already finished his Christmas shopping online, like a <em>sane</em> person. But then Seungcheol had seen the flyer advertising the market on one of their jaunts through the park, and he’s gotten so excited about the idea Jihoon didn’t have the heart to tell him <em>no</em>.</p><p>So here he is, wading through the Christmas Market hand-in-hand with his boyfriend like he’s in some kind of <em>Hallmark</em> movie. Or to be more precise, clutching on to Seungcheol’s arm for dear life while <em>Seungcheol</em> cuts a path through the frenzied shoppers.</p><p>Seungcheol is clearly spurred on by a similar level of zeal as everyone else; he's hardly stopped smiling once since they arrived, and seems to take a genuine delight in absolutely everything going on around him. He <em>oohs</em> and <em>aahs</em> at every stall they pass, even though he shows zero interest in actually buying anything, and if a food stall is handing out free samples, you better believe he’s sampling the <em>hell</em> out of them.</p><p>The massive Christmas tree decorating the centre of the square in particular grabs his attention, and he spends ten minutes just fawning over the twinkling lights with child-like wonder. Then <em>another</em> ten minutes just ogling the red baubles hanging from it, like they’ve been placed there specifically to <em>entice</em> him.</p><p><em>Not all balls are your balls</em>—Jihoon has to remind him, like, eight times. Though he <em>does</em> let Seungcheol steal one to hang on <em>their</em> tree, because, you know—he’s hopelessly charmed and so completely fucked. And well, more importantly, because Seungcheol really has been a good boy this year.</p><p>Good Werewolves should be allowed to steal a solitary red bauble at Christmas.</p><p>It’s probably like…a werewolf Christmas <em>tradition</em> or something. </p><p>“Hey—move it or lose it half-pint!” Someone barks in his ear, and Jihoon twists to find a disgruntled looking man standing behind him, trying to squeeze his way through the crowds with a massive Douglas Fir Pine tree over his shoulder.</p><p>Jihoon <em>is</em> technically in his way, but so is everyone else, and there’s really nowhere for him to move without shoving someone else off their feet. A fact he <em>tries</em> to explain with a flail of his hand.</p><p>Of course, that just seems to piss the guy off <em>more</em>.</p><p>He tries to push through anyway, throwing out an arm to shove Jihoon aside, when a hand slips between them and grabs hold of the guy’s collar and suddenly Seungcheol’s right up in the man’s face, teeth bared in a furious snarl.</p><p>“Apologise to my boyfriend right now or I’ll decorate that fucking tree with your intestines.”</p><p>The man shrinks back, blanches, then begins stammering out something that sounds more like a plea for <em>mercy</em> than an apology. Jihoon’s too busy staring at Seungcheol to care because—uh, wow? This is a side to Seungcheol he’s never seen before. A genuinely <em>scary</em> side.</p><p>Seungcheol almost looks angry enough to actually carry out that threat, and what’s <em>most</em> disturbing is that it’s really fucking hot. Which, okay, <em>yeah</em>—Jihoon’s pretty sure he shouldn’t be getting this turned on over the prospect of Seungcheol kicking someone’s ass for him, but he <em>is</em>. He totally is.</p><p>Threat delivered and apology accepted, Seungcheol shoves the guy back with a snarl then turns to Jihoon, all puppy again.</p><p>“Are you okay Hoonie?”</p><p>Jihoon nods and offers him the closest semblance of a smile he can manage at present. He doesn’t trust himself to speak though, because he’s pretty sure all that will come out is, <em>‘Can we go back to my dorm? I need to have sex with you like, now.’</em></p><p>Some of that <em>feeling</em> must be obvious on his face anyway, or maybe he’s just got veritable hearts in his eyes, because Seungcheol smirks and dips down to <em>bump</em> their noises together, and oh fuck— Jihoon is immediately catapulted past casual arousal into something far more tender because they’re Eskimo kissing in a Christmas Market in front of a giant Christmas tree with Christmas music playing in the background and—</p><p>Holy shit, are people awing and <em>clapping</em> for them?</p><p>No, wait, they’re not—apparently an adorable child has done something adorable in the background somewhere—but whatever, this is <em>still</em> pretty high up on the list of unpardonably sappy moments that Jihoon never expected to be part of his actual life. </p><p>It hits Jihoon then, in that exact moment, that he has a boyfriend now. Yeah, he’s been saying it for weeks to get everyone off his back, but for some reason this is the first time he’s actually <em>internalized</em> it. That he’s admitted to himself that it’s true.</p><p>Seungcheol is his <em>boyfriend</em>.</p><p>Not just a hook up, not just a guy from class he occasionally invites over for some fun, but an honest to god boyfriend; a guy wants to kiss him and cuddle him and spoon him, who likes to hold his hand when they’re in the park, nuzzle him as he spoons out cookie dough and threatens bloody violence on random strangers to defend his honour, and that’s <em>woah</em>.</p><p>Like, WOAH.</p><p>Maybe not ‘woah’ in everyone’s books, but it’s ‘woah’ for Jihoon who hasn’t had a steady boyfriend <em>ever</em>.</p><p>It shouldn’t come as a surprise that the Universe tries to fuck it up for him not even an <em>hour</em> later.</p><p>They’re queuing outside a little coffee shop Jihoon likes to fetch some hot chocolates, when Jihoon spots Jeonghan and Jisoo standing a few shops down, admiring a display in one of the windows. Jihoon’s not sure whether to wave to get their attention or let the moment slip by, but before he can make up his mind, they both just so happen to look over and see him.</p><p>Something that might be a delighted smile flashes briefly across Jeonghan’s face, before it's just as quickly gone, replaced with a faint and entirely more familiar frown as his gaze passes over Seungcheol. Jisoo’s smile, on the other hand, is still firmly in place, and he doesn’t hesitate to come over and say hi, though he has to practically <em>drag</em> Jeonghan along. </p><p>“Hoonie! You’re the last person we expected to see braving it out here today. We figured you’d have all your Christmas shopping done online to avoid the crowds.”</p><p>Jihoon lifts one shoulder, “I do usually, but uhm, Seungcheol really wanted to see the Christmas Markets before they left town, so we decided to make the trip. Besides, I needed to get out of my dorm for a bit. Get some fresh air, and Christmas is the only time of the year I can get away with buying heaps of shit I don’t really need.”</p><p>Jisoo laughs knowingly, waving his shopping bags in view, then he gives Jihoon this weird, expectant look, like he’s waiting for him to <em>do</em> something.</p><p>It’s an awkwardly long time before Jihoon realises <em>what</em>.</p><p>“Oh shit, I totally forgot. Uhm, guys, this is Seungcheol—” He says, nudging Seungcheol forward slightly. “Seungcheol, these are my friends Jeonghan and Jisoo—”</p><p>“Friends?” Jeonghan tilts his head, kind of non-committal. His mouth purses and then moves into a curve, mocking. “Hmm, I think that’s up for debate. <em>Friends</em> usually reply to your messages, and may even answer your calls once in a while. They’re also known to make an effort on your birthday and will have the decency to congratulate you when you get accepted into a very competitive post graduate program.”</p><p>Jihoon blinks, flummoxed. Before his brain can even fit together the instructions required for him to ask Jeonghan exactly what he means by that, Jisoo nudges him playfully. </p><p>“Don’t listen to him Jihoonie, he’s just being dramatic. I only found out on Thursday; lots of people don’t know about it yet, and I know you’re rarely on Twitter these days, so you wouldn’t have seen a certain <em>someone’s</em> overly showy posts.” His expression softens even as he rolls his eyes. “Honestly, you would think I’d won the Nobel Peace Prize with how much Hannie was <em>harping</em> on about it.”</p><p>Jihoon manages a grin, “Still though…that’s great news. I know how hard you’ve been—”</p><p>“Can we please go inside already? I’m freezing my ass off here Jisoo.” Jeonghan interjects, talking over him loud and deliberate, and Jihoon flushes as the atmosphere turns from slightly strained to downright uncomfortable. </p><p>Jisoo, a late addition to the clue bus, finally seems to sense that there's some kind of <em>vibe</em> in the air, and shoots Jeonghan a quelling <em>‘what the hell’s your problem’</em> look.</p><p>It’s clear that he’s the one wearing the pants in their relationship, or so to speak, because although Jeonghan still has that fight-or-flight feel to him, he doesn’t dare argue with that glare. He just breathes out a sigh and stands there stiffly.</p><p>“So,” Jisoo says, his voice deliberately mild as he turns his attention back to Jihoon, “What are your plans for Christmas? I hope we’ll get to see you before you head home.”</p><p>Okay, so Jihoon never exactly planned to have this conversation with any of his friends. He’s forced to go with a listless, “Oh, well, uhm, I’m not actually going back home for the holidays this year. I’m staying on campus.”</p><p>“Oh,” Jisoo gives him a puzzled look. “Aren’t you parents going to be devastated?”</p><p>“No, actually, I think they’re a little excited,” Jihoon grins, trying to sound blasé about it, “Christmas is the only time they’re both off work at the <em>same</em> time, so when I told them I wouldn’t be coming home, they booked a couples’ cruise like, the very next day. So yeah, I’m actually going to take a stab at cooking a turkey this year. But just a small one you know, for me and Cheollie. Uhm, what about you guys?”</p><p>Jisoo’s half-way through sharing all the elaborately festive plans he’s made, when Jeonghan interrupts with, “No, hold up, <em>what</em>? You’re not going home for <em>Christmas</em> now? When did you decide this?”</p><p>“I dunno, a few weeks ago.” Jihoon shrugs, not surprised by the interruption at all.</p><p>“But you <em>always</em> go home for Christmas.” Jeonghan persists.</p><p>“Yeah, well, this year I wanted to stay on campus for a change,” Jihoon huffs, his mood souring. “Besides, I always get bored half-way through the holiday and come back early anyway. You know that—why are you making such a big deal about it?”</p><p>Jeonghan just gives him a considering look, head tilted and eyes narrowed. He stares for so long that Jihoon can feel his fading blush flaring back to life, but he doesn't break Jeonghan's gaze, and Jeonghan doesn't either.</p><p>Then:</p><p>“I’m just can’t help wondering if it was your <em>decision</em>, or your new boyfriend’s?” Jeonghan finally, says, levelling a tight, humourless smile in Seungcheol’s direction.</p><p>Seungcheol blinks, looking owlish and confused.</p><p>“Yeah, that’s right pal, I’m talking to you. Don’t you speak?” Jeonghan grits out, while Jisoo shoves lightly against his shin and hisses, “Hannie, that’s enough.”</p><p>Seungcheol’s face, already red, turns a shade darker under the intense scrutiny. But he must understand Jeonghan is Jihoon’s <em>friend</em>, even if he’s not <em>acting</em> like one, because instead of grabbing Jeonghan by the collar and threatening blooding violence as he did earlier, he ducks his head and moves to stand—</p><p>Okay, he’s hiding behind Jihoon.</p><p>He’s actually hiding behind Jihoon now. And rather ineffectively too, because there’s a ridiculous height difference between them and his shoulders are probably sticking out, but he’s giving it a damn good go.</p><p>“Ignore him Seungcheol,” Jihoon says, squaring his shoulders, “Jeonghan is just being a jerk, even though he said he <em>wouldn’t</em> be.”</p><p>Jeonghan shrugs and doesn't look remotely apologetic about it. “No, actually, I’m just being a concerned friend Jihoon—a <em>friend</em> who’s worried about all the sudden and dramatic changes you’ve made to your life to please this guy.”</p><p>“Will you <em>stop</em> saying that. I haven’t changed—” Jihoon begins to protest, only for Jeonghan to interrupt with an eye roll so elaborate it looks like it <em>hurts</em>.</p><p>Another time, Jihoon would be impressed by his sass capacity, but right now he can only set his jaw angrily. He can feel a headache coming on—a very specific headache that comes on whenever he has to resist a perfectly reasonable urge to punch someone in the face.</p><p>“Oh, <em>please</em>! You hardly talk to us anymore Jihoon, and you’re always making excuses not to hang out. You’ve lost weight, you dress differently, and you’ve even got weird, new hobbies. I mean, since when do you enjoy baking and hiking? Never, that’s when. Now you’re not going home for Christmas and isolating yourself even <em>more</em>? That’s just…that’s just not healthy. You’ve changed so much since this guy’s come into your life and you can’t even see it. When are you going to wake up and smell the coffee?”</p><p>Jihoon fixes him with a cold, level stare.</p><p>“I had two cups of the blackest coffee this morning, and the only bitter aftertaste I’m getting is from talking to <em>you</em>. So yeah, fuck you Jeonghan. Come on, Cheollie, let’s go.” He says, then grabbing Seungcheol’s hand he leads them away before Jeonghan can so much as splutter incoherently at him.</p>
<hr/><p>“You’re awfully quiet Seungcheol. I hope you’re not taking what Jeonghan said to heart?” Jihoon asks, much later, when they finally get back to his room.</p><p>He’d naively hoped Seungcheol would dismiss the entire encounter the second he waved the offer of a few mince pies under his nose. But even though Seungcheol helped himself to seven, he’d remained unusually quiet the whole walk home, biting his bottom lip and emitting short chuffs through his nose, containing his discomfort, but not completely.</p><p>Now that they’re alone, he’s just <em>quiet</em>, and it’s <em>getting</em> to Jihoon.</p><p>“Hannie was just…I don’t know what his problem is actually. But none of what he said is true.”</p><p>Unwinding his scarf, Seungcheol perches quietly on the desk for a moment, then sighs, closing his hands into fists, “Are you sure about that?”</p><p>He doesn’t sound sceptical, or even disbelieving, so much as simply resigned. When Jihoon blinks up at him, confused, he runs a hand through his hair and shrugs, “You <em>have</em> changed a lot though Jihoonie, in lots of ways. And after meeting your friends, I can’t help but feel like a lot of those changes <em>were</em> to accommodate me in your life. I take up a lot of your free time, and it’s kept you from your hobbies and your friends, and now you’re staying here for Christmas and—</p><p>“I <em>wanted</em> to stay for Christmas. It was <em>my</em> choice.” Jihoon cuts in impatiently. Annoyingly, it comes out sounding rehearsed, like he's said it so many times he doesn’t even have to think about it anymore.</p><p>Blowing out a huff, he walks over to set his hand over Seungcheol’s closed fist. “I mean it Cheol, I wanted to stay. It wasn’t because of you.”</p><p>Slowly, Seungcheol uncurls his fingers, relaxes until their hands are pressed together. His expression is still wary, but his tone relents a little. “Maybe. But I think you choose to do it because you felt bad that I would be alone.”</p><p>“No, that’s not it at all,” Jihoon shakes his head. Then, because he really does <em>not</em> want to be having this conversation. “H<em>ey</em>—is that a squirrel?”</p><p>Seungcheol almost turns to look, then forcibly stops himself, “Nice try Jihoon. There’s only so many times I’m going to fall for that.”</p><p><em>Shit</em>.</p><p>Okay, so Jihoon <em>may</em> have overused that one.</p><p>Time to change tactics.</p><p>“I don’t know what you mean. Anyway, what should we have for <em>dinner</em>?”</p><p>Seungcheol quirks a sharp little smile, and huffs, “Don’t do that—don’t try and distract me from the truth. Especially with food. It’s not fair.”</p><p>Jihoon tries to keep his expression neutral even as his insides squirm with guilt. “Oh my god, I’m <em>not</em> trying to distract you. I’m just asking you what you want for dinner…I think we should have steaks. You love a nice, juicy steak, don’t you?”</p><p>Seungcheol squeezes his eyes shut briefly, clearly trying his absolute best not to get distracted by juicy steaks.</p><p>“I, I don’t, I can’t—I…I don’t want to think about food right now, Jihoon. Please. I want to talk about this.” He says firmly, uncertainty slipping into something that sounds more like an order.</p><p>Jihoon gives an exasperated little sigh. “Sure, we can talk. We can talk all you like. But if you don’t mind, I’m going to get changed first.” He says, then starts taking off his clothes before Seungcheol can lodge a protest.</p><p>Seungcheol crosses his arms, quite clearly trying to look irritated at the delay, but with each item of clothing Jihoon removes, his wolf ears perk up just that little bit more, and his tail wags harder, so he doesn't quite manage it.</p><p>When Jihoon finally pushes his jeans down his hips, he looks nothing short of <em>tremendously fucking ecstatic</em>, making a low purring sound that belongs in the deeper, hypnotic registers of hunger. He’s developed somewhat of a tunnel vision when it comes to Jihoon in underwear, zoning out at just the sight of him, so the effect must be <em>doubly</em> enticing when he’s eschewed his boxers for a lacey, red <em>thong</em>. </p><p>“So,” Jihoon says, tossing his clothes into the hamper. “What did you want to talk about?”</p><p>Seungcheol gives him a faintly perplexed and annoyed look that doesn't really suit his passion-flushed face, “I—I can’t remember. You <em>distracted</em> me.”</p><p>“Aw, what a pity,” Jihoon gives a huge, feigned yawn. “Oh well. I’m going to take a quick nap before dinner.” He says, then pads over to the bed.</p><p>He stretches out on top of the covers, a little too aware of just how little of his ass the thong covers, but it’s almost secondary. They’ve been sharing a bed for weeks now, having sex for even longer and Jihoon’s running out of things to feel ashamed of.</p><p>A few moments later, he feels the bed dip behind him—Seungcheol leaning in to kiss behind his ear.</p><p>“I like your new shorts Jihoonie.”</p><p>A laugh jumps out of Jihoon before he can stop it.</p><p>“They’re not shorts Cheol—it’s a thong.” He says, wriggling back into Seungcheol’s embrace.</p><p>Seungcheol’s arms wrap around him instantly, heavy hands moving up and around to stroke over Jihoon’s hips, delicately scratching ten curved lines of want across his skin. “Well, I like them anyway. I like them a lot.” He whispers, head sinking into the pillow next to Jihoon’s, and a moment later his lips press firmly but briefly against the knob at the top of Jihoon’s spine.</p><p>It’s so simple, so unerotic compared to their usual activities, but Jihoon’s suddenly blazingly hard, and when he tilts his ass back reflexively, he discovers that Seungcheol is too.</p><p>“Good, cause I…I kind of got them for you.”</p><p>Seungcheol makes a curious little sound at that, but he doesn’t balk. If anything, his arms squeeze tighter around Jihoon’s waist, pulling him closer until the space between them is nearly non-existent.</p><p>“Thank you Hoonie,” he murmurs, notching his chin over Jihoon’s shoulder. "...But I don’t think they’ll fit.”</p><p>Jihoon is kind of amazed he can spare the blood to blush, but he feels his cheeks heat up.</p><p>“I don’t mean for <em>you</em> to wear,” He says in a mortified rush. “I meant for you to <em>enjoy</em> me—” He stops himself there before he can just embarrass himself more and rolls over with a reluctant sigh. He barely has to tilt his head back at all to meet Seungcheol’s intent gaze.</p><p>“Look, not gonna lie, this is really embarrassing for me. I don’t <em>normally</em> wear this kind of thing. Like, ever. I’m all about comfort usually, and these are not comfortable in the least, but when I saw them in the shop window, I thought to myself, ooh, Cheol likes red, and he likes it when I wear shorts, and maybe he would enjoy it if I dressed up—I dunno, it was just a thought and—”</p><p>Seungcheol cuts off his explanation with a puppy-eager kiss, taking Jihoon’s mouth in the hungry, entitled way he takes everything he wants.</p><p>“These actually came with a matching cape, you know,” says Jihoon, pulling back from the kiss, breathing hard, “And I was going to get it and do like, a Red Riding Hood role play, but then I thought, oh shit, is that offensive? Will Cheol be offended if I show up in red lingerie and a wicker basket and be all like, ‘Guess what time it is Mr Wolf’, so I didn’t. But uhm, would that have been offensive? Or would you have liked it?”</p><p>Above him, Seungcheol is wide eyed and silent a moment, then the hand still curled loosely round Jihoon’s hip tightens as he emits a rumble of noise.</p><p>Jihoon can't tell for the life of him whether it's a good noise, or a bad noise. All he knows is that it's vibrating all the way through him and Seungcheol’s eyes are redder than they’ve ever been.</p><p>It’s on the tip of his tongue to blurt out <em>‘okay, chill, I take it back'</em> when Seungcheol springs back in one of his trademark feats of agility, on his feet and stripping out of his clothes in an impressively coordinated flurry of movement.</p><p>Before Jihoon can do much more than blink, the bedside drawer has been yanked open, a tube of lube is denting the sheets, and Seungcheol is watching him with hungry, appreciative eyes.</p><p>“Oh,” He blushes, “Okay, so you like the idea—that’s good to know. I’ll keep that in mind for—”</p><p>Seungcheol’s on him before he can finish can, manhandling onto his stomach—then up onto his hands and knees.</p><p>Jihoon gives an embarrassingly loud yelp when Seungcheol gets a handful of thong and <em>rips, </em>but he has no complaints, none whatsoever, not when Seungcheol is suddenly there, a familiar wall of muscle and heat braced along his back, breathing heavily in his ear.</p><p>“Jihoon, can I—” He begins to ask, like they’re not half-way there already.</p><p>If he weren’t so turned on, Jihoon could honestly thump him for wasting time.</p><p>“<em>Yes, yes—of course, Fuck!</em>”</p><p>Jihoon's belly tightens with anticipation as Seungcheol draws back, his hands coming up to spread his cheeks wide. There’s something darkly possessive in the way he’s bruising ownership into Jihoon's thighs and his hips, how he rubs his jaw, stubble rough, against Jihoon’s ass. But somehow even overwhelmed with need he’s mindful of Jihoon’s physical limitations, gentle when his fingers move lower to probe at his rim.</p><p>His fingers are nowhere near slick enough as they nudge inside, but Jihoon doesn’t protest, just gasps with the effort of relaxing his body around those thick digits, parting his legs the best he can with Seungcheol’s thighs bracketing his knees, and rocks back a little even as he hisses.</p><p>Seungcheol works him open with two, then three fingers slowly, not patient exactly, but determined. Eager. When he adds his tongue to the equation, Jihoon almost comes right there and then, but the knowledge that Seungcheol’s going to be balls deep inside him soon keeps him in one piece.</p><p>Then Seungcheol’s giving him one last swipe with his tongue and Jihoon draws a shaky breath as those clever fingers disappear almost too abruptly.</p><p>A moment later comes the sound of the lube cap snicking open, the quick, quiet slide of skin across skin as Seungcheol slicks himself up, and then a whole stream of breathy, embarrassing noises from Jihoon’s throat as the head of Seungcheol’s cock nudges slickly at his entrance.</p><p>There's the breathless instant of anticipation—</p><p>“Nhaa!”</p><p>Jihoon moans as Seungcheol slots home in one, long slide, eyes falling closed at the sensation of going from empty to too full all at once.</p><p>It hurts—of course it hurts, even with tons of lube—Seungcheol’s dick is way more substantial than his exploring fingers. The stretch feels like fire all the way up Jihoon’s spine, and it creates impossible pressure in the pit of his stomach, so intense he almost wants to cry from it.</p><p>He presses his face into the pillow, shifts to try and relieve some of the pressure but only makes it root deeper into his body so that he can barely breathe.</p><p>“Fuck...” he shivers as Seungcheol’s hands skims over his back, trying to coax the muscles into relaxation, “How did we even do this last time? Feels like you’ve gotten bigger.”</p><p>“Sorry,” Seungcheol says, huffing a breath against Jihoon’s neck. “Guess I’m excited,”</p><p>His voice has gone completely raw with the effort of holding himself still, and he seems to have to swallow after every breath. His stillness is a blessing though, giving Jihoon time to adjust, to will his body to relax past the discomfort and then welcome other, more pleasant sensations. His own cock is still achingly hard for one, and he focuses on that, as well as the heat flushing his skin, and the thrilling warmth of Seungcheol’s hands holding him down.</p><p>Then Seungcheol’s stillness dissolves, a frantic energy hijacking him all at once and setting him to motion, and all Jihoon can do is ride it out, shout and shove back and shake all over with how good it is.</p><p>The rhythm is instantly brutal, each thrust perfect and hard and deep and confident as hell; jarring Jihoon, rocking the bed against the wall despite its sturdy construction.</p><p>Seungcheol’s relentless in chasing his pleasure, but there’s nothing selfish about him either—even in this frenzy of almost animal desperation, he touches Jihoon with reverence; thumbing his nipples, kissing his neck, reaching around to cup his balls and stroke his dick in time with every thrust. The sensations are secondary to the invasive weight of Seungcheol’s dick inside him, spreading him impossibly open, but it’s all good, good, <em>so fucking good. </em></p><p>Then Seungcheol’s shifting, changing the angle enough to find that spot that sends fireworks flashing in Jihoon’s head and Jihoon ends up totally embarrassing himself with his speed across the finish line, crying out and coming hard as the pleasure is torn right out of him.</p><p>His orgasm whites the world out around the edges for a while, making his muscles go all lax and rubbery like he’s just finished a marathon. Seungcheol is still fucking into him when he regains coherent thought, the rough, steady rhythm giving no sign of abating.</p><p>Jihoon spreads his legs wider, accommodating the onslaught as well as he can, welcoming the slick ache deep inside his own exhausted body. He knows he'll be feeling the aftereffects of this for days to come, but he can’t bring himself to care when Seungcheol’s mouthing his neck, muffling out his happy little grunts against his skin.</p><p>Seungcheol’s pace quickens at the end, his deep, forceful thrusts growing erratic. He pounds into Jihoon’s body with a single-minded intensity now, pins him against the mattress and bites the nape of his neck, and finally buries his cock to the hilt as at last he comes.</p><p>Jihoon’s ass feels empty and raw and slippery when Seungcheol pulls out, but he doesn’t have much time to focus on that before Seungcheol is collapsing on him, satisfyingly fucked out.</p><p>The dead weight along his back lifts sooner than he expects, and Jihoon murmurs quiet approval as Seungcheol drags himself up and back very slowly, kissing the path of Jihoon’s spine as he goes almost as though he doesn’t know he’s doing it. As soon as he’s clear of Jihoon’s legs, Jihoon flops over onto his back, getting himself comfortable for the obligatory post-fuck cuddle that’s bound to start any second now.</p><p>He's not big on post-coital affection, not usually, not when he feels all sticky and sweaty and gross, but Seungcheol uses it as an opportunity to demonstrate his unending gratitude with emphatic nuzzling so, yeah…</p><p>Who <em>doesn’t</em> enjoy that?  </p><p>Except…it doesn’t seem to be happening right now.</p><p>Frowning, Jihoon cracks his eyes open and finds Seungcheol sitting on the edge of the bed, staring at the torn red thong cradled in his hands... <em>mournfully</em>.</p><p>Honestly, he’s never looked sadder and that’s just hilarious.</p><p>“It’s okay Cheollie,” Jihoon bites his lip, seized by the urge to giggle, “I can buy another pair.”</p>
<hr/><p>There’s exactly two missed calls and six messages on Jihoon’s phone the following morning. Both calls are from campus security, which is weird, until he checks the messages and sees that four of them are from the guy who dorms in the room next to his and are variations of <em>‘Are you okay? I heard you scream?’ </em>and <em>‘ok, your screams are freaking me out now, I’m calling campus security!’</em> and then <em>‘Oh shit, I’m so sorry, I just realised you were having sex with your bf :))’</em>  followed by another message an hour later that says, <em>‘WE GET IT! YOU’RE HAVING GRT SEX, STOP RUBBING IT IN!’</em></p><p>Which is <em>just…sigh.</em></p><p>He really needs to figure out how to soundproof his room.</p><p>The last two messages are from Jisoo and Jeonghan. As expected, Jisoo’s is a typically apologetic ‘<em>sorry Hannie was being a dick earlier’, </em>and Jeonghan’s is a non-apologetically typical <em>‘We need to talk’</em>.</p><p>Jihoon ignores both and takes Seungcheol Ice-skating, and Seungcheol dislocates a guy’s shoulder.</p><p>Not <em>deliberately</em> of course.</p><p>The Ice rink is packed. Everywhere is busy at Christmas, and especially a place like this, but there’s this one dickhead weaving around the other skaters with an elaborate, almost <em>unnecessary</em> show of skill. </p><p>A show-off basically.</p><p>He’s already slipped up a few people by swerving way to close to them and making them lose their balance, but then he makes the mistake of trying it on Seungcheol, skating backwards into his path with a superior smug look on his face. He obviously thinks Seungcheol’s going to panic and try and flail out of his way, but Seungcheol’s gaze is glued to his feet, so the guy just, <em>yeah</em>.</p><p>It’s kind of like watching an egg getting smashed against a brick <em>wall</em>.</p><p>The guy wipes out on the ice, clutching his arm and howling in pain, while Seungcheol stands over him, looking confused and very distressed. Two rink attendants quickly skate over to check up on them, but ‘show-off’ is bawling so hard now soon there’s a whole <em>crowd</em> of people gathering around to rubberneck and Jihoon determines it’s probably a good idea to get Seungcheol the hell out of there.</p><p>“I’m, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to—” Seungcheol is stammering when Jihoon takes his hand and begins to tug him away, but thankfully, nobody is really paying him any attention.</p><p>“I know puppy, it’s okay.” Jihoon whispers when they’ve skated out of earshot. He takes hold of Seungcheol’s other hand so they’re face to face, “But we should probably go before someone starts asking questions. Okay?”</p><p>Seungcheol looks really sad about having to cut their trip short, but he doesn’t even attempt the puppy dog eyes. He just nods, and let’s Jihoon tug him along backwards to the edge of the rink. </p><p>“I think those people over there are waving at you.” Seungcheol murmurs, when they step over the threshold. </p><p>Jihoon blinks, a little surprised, and turns his head to find a small group of his friends in the queue of people waiting to hire skates. Jihoon holds up a hand in greeting, but makes a point of looking away again before anyone can tru and wave him over.</p><p>“Yeah, it’s just some guys I know.” He murmurs, quickly herding Seungcheol over to one of the free benches. He thinks he hears Seungkwan calling out his name, but he pretends not to notice as he crouches down and begins to work on his laces; it’s been a pretty fun filled day, and the last thing he’d like right now is another raging third degree from someone who thinks he’s <em>changed. </em></p><p>“Don’t you want to go over and say hello?” Seungcheol remarks, craning his neck to look back at the grotto.</p><p>“No, I’d really rather not.” Jihoon snorts without looking up.</p><p>He might be mistaken, but he thinks he hears Seungcheol make a quiet noise high in his throat, not dissimilar to that hurt whine dogs make when someone accidentally steps on their tail.</p>
<hr/><p>Jihoon rubs his hands against his thighs, wiping them on his jeans, trying not to be too obvious about it, doing his best to ignore the tilt-a-whirl sensation in his stomach. He spent the last week anticipating this trip, booking their bus tickets, buying snacks for the road, Google mapping directions from the station to Seungmin’s address and giving Seungcheol little pep talks about how it was all going to work out fine. But now that they're here, standing right outside the guy’s house, his palms have gone sweaty on him.</p><p>He's not sure why <em>he’s</em> so nervous. Technically, he has nothing to be nervous about. If <em>anyone</em> should be freaking out right now, it should probably be Seungcheol. Instead, the guy’s just staring across the street with a detached sort of expression, hands tucked in his jacket pockets.</p><p>Still, Jihoon feels the need to say <em>something</em> reassuring, to ease his own jittery nerves if not Seungcheol’s.</p><p>“It’s going to be okay, Cheollie. He’ll be happy to see you.”</p><p>Seungcheol just nods slowly, his eyes very far away.</p><p>At first Jihoon thinks he’s just taking in the over-the-top Christmas decorations, because there are fairy lights wound around every single piece of foliage in the front garden, as well as glowing candy cane sticks leading up the path and a procession of large inflatable reindeer on the roof. Then he catches Seungcheol's eyeline and follows it to the swing set nestled smack-bang in the middle of all the festive chaos and, oh.</p><p><em>Kids</em>.</p><p>Seungmin has a kid apparently, or <em>kids</em>, so that means Seungcheol has nieces or nephews he’s never met and probably never knew he existed and, <em>yeah</em>—that’s explains the thousand-yard stare. </p><p>Jihoon smiles faintly and reaches up to fix Seungcheol’s hat, “Would you feel more comfortable if you stayed here, and <em>I</em> go and talk to him first? I could, you know, break the ice or something.”</p><p>Seungcheol nods emphatically, puffing out a massive gust of air he must have been holding on to for <em>ages</em>.</p><p>Jihoon pats his shoulder before venturing across the road, wondering what’s the best way to say <em>‘Hey man, you know that brother you’ve been searching twenty years for? Well, he’s waiting outside and he’s a Werewolf now’</em> without coming across like some kind of <em>nutcase</em>. </p><p>It’s going to be hard to sell whatever way you slice it.</p><p>He's still thinking about the best opening when his knock is answered by a harassed looking woman.</p><p>She’s wearing an apron with a dancing elf on it, and her hair is pulled back in a messy ponytail and her cheeks are flushed, and <em>most</em> notably, she’s got a wailing toddler balanced on her hip. An unfairly adorable baby boy with those big doe eyes that clearly run in the Choi family. </p><p><em>Aww</em>—Jihoon thinks, and might also say out loud, because the woman gives a slightly strangled laugh and says, “Yeah, you say that now, but wait till you have three of them on your hands, and they all decide to cry at the same time because you cut their sandwich the wrong way.”</p><p>Jihoon giggles, dragging his attention away from sobbing child to smile benignly at the woman. “Uhm, sorry to intrude so close to Christmas, but I was looking for Choi Seungmin. Is he home by any chance?”</p><p>The woman blinks at him curiously, then gives him a quick once over, “No, sorry, he’s at the garage.”</p><p>“The garage?” Jihoon echoes, craning his neck to get a look at the side of the house.</p><p>“No, not that one, the garage where he <em>works</em>. He’s a mechanic.” The woman says, hefting the now sniffling toddler higher.</p><p>“Oh, right.” Jihoon gives an awkward laugh. He hadn’t really planned for this, but hopefully the garage is nearby and not another town over. “Sorry, I know you’ve got your hands full right now, but would you be able to give me the address? There’s uhm…there’s something really important I need to speak to him about, and I have his number, but I’d prefer to speak to him face to face.”</p><p>The woman gives Jihoon an uncomfortably knowing look. </p><p>“Okay, what’s this about?”</p><p>Swallowing thickly, Jihoon fumbles for the piece of printed A4 paper folded into a tiny, compact square in its left pocket and holds it out. It’s a print screen of the ‘Missing’ poster displayed on the Facebook page Seungmin set up a few years ago, and apparently still monitors, even though the last few posts on the page have been strongly worded messages calling out spiteful trolls.</p><p>Jihoon’s kind of worried he’ll be mistaken for a time waiting troll too, but showing up in person must give him <em>some</em> credibility, because the woman just breathes out a relieved sigh and smiles at him.</p><p>“I’m sorry. He’s been having some trouble with one of his clients, I thought maybe you were… never mind. I’ll just—wait there, I have the address tacked to the fridge.”</p><p>She dashes down the corridor, to the kitchen presumably, and Jihoon gets a quick glimpse of the festively decorated interior, as well as two other children peeking out curiously from behind the stairs, before the woman comes rushing back with a flyer for ‘Choi Motors’.</p><p>The image on the front is so faded it must have been tacked to the same spot on the fridge for years, but on the back, there’s an address and a handy little map of the neighborhood.</p><p>“Here we go. It’s a pretty grueling twenty-minute walk from here, but if you grab the 414 from the stop around the corner, it’ll stop a block away from the garage. There’s a big round red sign outside that says Choi Motors—you can’t miss it.”</p><p>“Thank you,” Jihoon smiles, pulling out his phone to look up the address.</p><p>The two older children have left their hiding spots to hover behind their mother now, and if the toddler <em>sort of</em> looks like Seungcheol, then the oldest of the three is Seungcheol <em>incarnate</em>. He can’t be any older than eight or nine, but he’s already a Seungcheol in miniature—right down to the floofy hair and strong abiding love for Captain America Merch.</p><p>“Thanks.” Jihoon smiles, handing back the flyer, and because he doesn’t know what else to say, but feels like he should say something, “You have a really lovely family.”</p><p>The woman puffs out a weary laugh, but smiles down fondly at her brood, “This is Seo-jun, and this little brat who won’t stop bawling his eyes out is Jin-Kyu,” and then she reaches out to pat the oldest of the three on the head, “And this is Seungcheol. He’s named after his uncle.”</p><p>Jihoon nods and smiles, and offers a polite bow, then he has to get out of there before he starts bawling his eyes out too.</p>
<hr/><p>Seungcheol doesn’t talk much on the way to the garage, even though they opt to walk instead of waiting for the bus, which gives them plenty of time for talking. He doesn’t even stop to growl at the fire hydrants they pass, which is really fucking worrying. But it’s okay, Jihoon does enough talking for both of them, imparting what little he’s learnt about Seungmin’s life from the brief glimpse into his home. He expects Seungcheol to be happy to know he’s got three nephews, and even one named <em>after</em> him, but if anything, that knowledge just makes Seungcheol <em>quieter</em>.</p><p>By the time they reach Choi Motors, that thousand-yard stare is back and worse than before, and Jihoon thinks the best way to <em>ease</em> it is to just get this over and done with. He says as much to Seungcheol, trying for a reassuring yet firm tone, and steers him towards the forecourt before he can say differently.</p><p>Surprisingly, Seungmin’s pretty easy to spot right off the bat, even amongst the dozen or so mechanics clad in identical boiler suits. The resemblance to Seungcheol is <em>uncanny</em>. Sure, he looks paler and a touch older, and his hair is cropped in closer and his jaw is peppered with light stubble. But he has the same brown, doe eyes and the same nose and cheeks. It’s probably what Seungcheol would look like if he could age normally. Unfairly hot.</p><p>“Uhm—Choi Seungmin?”</p><p>Seungmin turns to look at him, all bright smiles and the easy offering of his hand as he says, “Yeah, that’s me. Can I help you with something?”</p><p>Jihoon smiles back, resisting the nervous urge to clear his throat as he takes the offered hand, hoping his palms aren’t still sweating.</p><p>“Well, I don’t really know how to tell you this, but—” He trails off, then gestures to his left, hoping Seungmin will just <em>look</em> for himself and see Seungcheol standing there, recognise him as his brother and Jihoon can slink off the side and watch over the happy reunion.</p><p>Except Seungmin just darts his eyes to the left, then back at Jihoon, then <em>quirks</em> an eyebrow. “What am I supposed to be looking at kid.”</p><p>Jihoon whips his head to the side to look at Seungcheol, and oh shit, he’s not there.</p><p>He’s gone.</p><p>Seungcheol is fucking <em>gone</em>.</p><p>Jihoon does a 360 just to be sure the guy’s not cowering behind him again, but nope. It’s just him, twirling about the forecourt like an <em>idiot</em>.</p><p>“What the hell! Where’d he go?”</p><p>Seungmin smiles sceptically. “Uh, where’d who go?”</p><p>Scratching his head, Jihoon blinks, swallows, does not flail through force of will, and recovers with, “I’m sorry, will you excuse me for a moment,” then mutters growled frustrations as he turns his back and stalks back the way they came.</p><p>He makes it a three blocks before Seungcheol finally shows himself, stepping out from behind a tree like Jason fucking Vorhees and scaring the shit out of him. Expect instead of wielding a bloody axe, he’s wielding the <em>puppy dog eyes.</em></p><p>Honestly, Jihoon would have <em>preferred</em> the axe.</p><p>“What the hell Cheol, why did you run away? You just <em>left</em> me there.”</p><p>Seungcheol clearly feels bad about it though—all over-sized awkward shuffling into Jihoon's space and quiet whining. When Jihoon quirks an impatient eyebrow at him, he makes a small, frustrated gesture with his hands before hiding his face in them and mumbling something.</p><p>“What was that? I can’t <em>hear</em> you.<em>” </em>Jihoon says, maybe a little more sharply than he intended. </p><p>“I said, I can’t <em>do</em> this Jihoon. I can’t ruin his life.” Seungcheol says, sounding very close to cracking.</p><p>It's so far off from anything Jihoon had been expecting him to say that it throws him out of the moment; makes him forget to be angry.</p><p>“What are you talking about? You’re not going to <em>ruin</em> his life, Cheol, he’s your <em>brother</em>—he’s been looking for you for <em>years</em>. He’s the one person who has not given up on trying to find out what happened to you this whole time. Don’t you think he deserves to know you’re okay?”</p><p>Seungcheol’s shoulders rise and then fall, something like a shrug. “I—I think he’s doing fine without me, and I think knowing is just going to wreck things for him.” He says, and then tensing up, “It’s been twenty years since I saw him last Jihoon, and so much has changed. I’m a werewolf now. A fucking <em>werewolf</em>—how do I explain that to him? How?” He—he has a <em>family</em> now, with little kids, and a thriving business, and I can’t just go in there and ruin all that for him.”</p><p>For a long moment, Jihoondoesn't know how to reply to that.</p><p>“What makes you say that? Why do you think you’ll ruin <em>anything</em> for him?” He finally asks in a voice gone soft.</p><p>Seungcheol cut his eyes down and away, and Jihoon watches in mounting dread as his face tics with frustration, the edge of his jaw becoming as hard as stone.</p><p>“Because Jihoon, if I go barging into his life, I’ll change it like I changed yours and I can’t do that. I <em>refuse</em> to do that.”</p><p><em>Oh god, not this crap again—</em>Jihoon groans internally.</p><p>He’s so tired of having this conversation, he doesn’t know whether to laugh or cry or just lie down on the floor. </p><p>He settles for throwing his hands up in the air, “So what? What’s your grand plan? What do you plan to do with the rest of your ridiculously long Werewolfy life? Because let me tell you something Seungcheol, even if you weren’t a werewolf, life in the real world is not easy; you need money and connections and qualifications to get anywhere, and even then, nothing is guaranteed. Life sucks major balls for regular people, so you, you of all people are going to need all the help you can get. I can’t be the only one you share this werewolf problem with.”</p><p>The expression on Seungcheol's face is easy to read for a second, it flickers through confused, wary, irritated, and then dubious, but just before he opens his mouth, there is a flash of <em>hurt.</em></p><p>“I appreciate everything you’ve done for me Jihoon, really, I have. But if you recall, I never <em>asked</em> for your help; I never asked you to do anything for me. I just...I just wanted to be your friend.” He sighs and it sounds so <em>sad</em>. “I didn’t realise I was a problem for you until very recently, and I’m sorry I didn’t see it sooner.”</p><p>“No, no—I didn’t mean it like <em>that</em>,” Jihoon gapes, flailing a little. “I never said you were a problem for <em>me</em>. I just meant…you have to have a <em>plan</em> for your life. A purpose. You can’t just live in my dorm room forever.” He says and knows instantly that it’s a mistake, that it’s come out sounding so bad.</p><p>Seungcheol chews on his bottom lip and glances away again. “Yeah, I know Jihoon. I hear you loud and clear.”</p><p>“What? No, wait—” Jihoon scrambles to correct himself. He doesn't even get the chance to reach for Seungcheol before he's turning away, hopping the fence and zipping across the open field like Forrest Gump on <em>speed</em>.</p>
<hr/><p>Jihoon goes through the next few days in something of a daze.</p><p>At first, he’s just angry—supremely pissed off that Seungcheol could just tuck tail and run off like that, leaving him alone in an unfamiliar town with two bus tickets and no idea what to do with himself. It feels like he has every right to that anger too. Then he gets back to his dorm room and goes straight to sleep, and when he wakes up several hours later in a cold, empty bed, that self-righteous fury has melted into a guilty worry that sits low and heavy in his stomach.</p><p>He doesn’t panic about it.</p><p>He <em>refuses</em> to panic about it actually, because panicking about it would be stupid and ridiculous and counterproductive.</p><p>He doesn’t even panic about it on the <em>second</em> day, when he would be excused for panicking a little. He does however, take extra-long walks through the park, and leaves a few meatball subs on Seungcheol’s favourite bench, and loiters about the fountain much later than is strictly advisable. And yeah, maybe he gets a little desperate and makes a few flyers too, but he doesn’t actually post them anywhere—because Seungcheol’s a big, scary werewolf, and he can take care of himself. </p><p>Then day three rolls by, and he finds Seungcheol’s red ball under the bed and the not-panicking comes to an end in the most <em>spectacular</em> of ways.</p><p>Jihoon hasn’t cried in years, but he cries today, unselfconscious as a child. It’s not just his own unhappy loneliness that weighs on him; it’s remembering the tightness in Seungcheol’s voice, the expression on his face when he looked at Jihoon—heartbroken and betrayed and unwanted; Jihoon isn't going to be forgetting that any time soon.</p><p>He eventually manages to drag himself out of his spiral of <em>cry-sniff-see something that reminds you of Cheol-cry some more</em> enough to rehydrate and order some food, but when the pizza arrives, there’s a <em>Jeonghan</em> attached to it.</p><p>“I paid for your food, that’s all the apology you’re getting from me.”</p><p>"Go away Jeonghan, I’m not in the mood," Jihoon growls, snatching the pizza from him. <em>He's</em> not stupid enough to try slamming the door in Jeonghan's face, but Jeonghan clearly is if he thinks some free food’s going to build some bridges today.</p><p>“No, we need to talk,” Jeonghan continues, ignoring him as he shoulders his way between him and the door and shoves into the room. “Look, I might have been acting like a total dick the other day, but I think some of if was justified Jihoon. You’re one of my best friends, and I—” He face softens suddenly, “Oh my god, have you been <em>crying</em>?”</p><p>Jihoon can't meet his gaze, concentrating instead on keeping himself from shivering into pieces. “It’s—it’s Seungcheol. He…he…”</p><p>“He what?” Jeonghan says, blinking at him with wide eyes, “Aw, shit. Did he <em>break up</em> with you?”</p><p>Jihoon tries to force down the painful lump in his throat, but it won’t budge. “No. He…he ran away! And I don’t know where he is or if he’s okay. I’ve checked all his favourite spots in the park, and I pinned a note to his favourite tree, but I haven’t heard from him in two days. I thought he would come back for Taco Tuesday’s, because he loves Taco Tuesday, but he never came. I’m so worried Hannie—I made this flyer, do you think I should start handing it out?”</p><p>
  
</p><p>Jeonghan blinks at the flyer, then blinks at him, then chuckles, “Jihoon…you make him sound like a <em>puppy</em>.”</p><p>“He is. He is a puppy,” Jihoon sobs openly now, “He’s an actual giant puppy and he ran away!”</p>
<hr/><p>“This makes so much <em>sense</em>.” Jeonghan laughs, skimming through the news article on Jihoon’s laptop for what must be the tenth time.</p><p>“It does?” Jihoon says, just to check. It isn't a question, but he needs to know.</p><p>Jeonghan spares him a quick look over his shoulder, before he swivels the chair around, “Well, no, not entirely. The Werewolf thing is admittedly <em>wacky</em>, but I mean, the evidence supports everything you said, and out of all the people I know, you’re the first to shoot down the wacky conspiracy theories, so if you’re saying <em>this</em> is true, how could I not believe you?”</p><p>It’s exactly what Jihoon needs to hear, and even as he hates himself for needing that reprieve, he feels a desperate weight lift from his chest.</p><p>He inhales slowly, a little shakily; a smile plays at the corners of his mouth, “The Werewolf thing is true too, we just…we’ve found really effective ways to disguise it. He keeps his tail wrapped around his waist when he goes outside, and when he flattens his ears against his head, they kind of just blend in with his hair. And okay, there’s not much he can do about his red glowing eyes, but everyone’s wearing contacts these days, so they’ve never really stood out.”</p><p>“Yeah, okay, but have you ever seen him, you know—” Jeonghan waves one hand in a complex gesture that encompasses Jihoon, his bedside lamp and half the known universe.</p><p>“Seen him what?”</p><p>Jeonghan hand gestures go all <em>flaily</em>, “I dunno, <em>transform</em> into one?”</p><p>“Oh,” Jihoon blinks, thinking back on it, “Only once, and only <em>partially</em>. He…he doesn’t really like to do it around me. He thinks it <em>scares</em> me.”</p><p>Jeonghan looks at him—furrowed brow, slight frown. “Does it?”</p><p>“No, of course not.” Jihoon says, and then shakes his head, trying for more honesty. “A little bit,” He squints, trying to balance everything out in his head. “He can get really fucking huge when he shifts. And hairy. And he grows rows of these massively sharp teeth the size of my fingers. But…it just takes some getting used to, that’s all. He’s not <em>dangerous</em> or anything. Cheollie wouldn’t hurt a fly. Unless it’s a <em>squirrel</em>.”</p><p>Jeonghan seems to be mulling that over for five silent, agonizing minutes, before he asks, “Where was he living <em>before</em> you guys met?”</p><p>“In a hidden cave somewhere in the woods,” Jihoon says, slouching down in his seat in despair. “Like, <em>way</em> deep into the woods. He tried to show it to me once, but I was too out of shape at the time to manage it.”</p><p>Jeonghan chews on his lip, still looking introspective, “Well, wouldn’t it make sense that he’d try and go back there? It <em>was</em> his home before you came along.”</p><p>That hadn't occurred to Jihoon, and he is silent, absorbing this idea for a moment.</p><p>“I <em>guess</em> that makes sense, but I was kind of hoping he would never feel the need to go back there. He doesn’t have a lot of good memories associated with that place, and I’d hate to think of him being up there, all alone. Again.” He feels tears building in his eyes again, and looks away out the window when he continues. “I know he may seem really bulky and intimidating up close, but inside he’s the sweetest puppy. He’s <em>my</em> puppy.”</p><p>He isn't sure how he expected Jeonghan to react to such an awkward confession, but he definitely didn't expect the tiny snort that follows. He looks back at Jeonghan sharply and sees him visibly fighting back a smile. He feels a hot sting of embarrassment.</p><p>“Hey, no, I’m not laughing <em>at</em> you,” Jeonghan says, putting his hands up apologetically. “I’m just coming to terms with <em>why</em> you were acting so differently. Why you did a lot of the things you did. Before I just thought he’d <em>pressured</em> you into stuff, but now,” He smiles crookedly, “It totally makes sense that you’re spending Christmas on campus: you didn’t want him to be alone.”</p><p>Jihoon closes his eyes when his eyes begin to sting again and lets out a shuddery breath. It feels like somebody’d just made a fist inside his chest, squeezing something there too tight. “You know, I didn’t even have to think twice about staying. He’s been all alone, for so long, I just—I couldn’t let that happen again.”</p><p>Jeonghan gives him a sympathetic smile and leans across the table to pat his arm. “It’s late now, you should try and get some sleep—”</p><p>“No, I can’t,” Jihoon sniffs, shaking his head. In all honesty, he probably couldn't sleep even if he <em>tried</em>. Not with the worry starting to settle inevitably upon his shoulders.  “It’s Christmas Eve tomorrow, I <em>have</em> to find him.”</p><p>“And we will.” Jeonghan’s tone becomes firmer as he stands, “I’m going to head home, talk to Jisoo, and first thing tomorrow morning, you and I are going to go for a nice long hike.”</p><p>Jihoon falters.</p><p>“You’re...you’re going to help me find him?” He says, wiping at his eyes.</p><p>Jeonghan gives him a look that is somehow incredulous, frustrated and incredibly fond all at once, like there was never any other answer</p><p>“Of course, I will, dickhead.”</p>
<hr/><p>Jeonghan stays true to his word and meets him at the entrance of the park at 7am, armed with a flashlight, several bottle of water and enough trail mix he’s clearly intending to leave a <em>trail</em> of it behind them in case they got lost.</p><p>Jihoon has no intention of getting lost; he’s got a map, GPS, and two solar powered chargers for his phone, and he’s familiar with most of the hiking trails through his various excursions with Seungcheol. He’s also bought a meatball sub, to lure him out, and he’s wearing a new red lacy thong, in case, you know—he needs to <em>distract</em> him.</p><p>He’s really hoping it doesn’t come to that.</p><p>For one, it’ll probably broadcast the wrong message. And two, it’s really fucking <em>cold</em>.</p><p>Yeah.</p><p>The first 40 minutes is just a steady pace along one of the popular hiking trails, which is perfect for Jihoon because he’s still trying to figure out what he’s going to say when he’s face-to-face with Seungcheol again, and he barely needs to focus. Then they leave the well-trodden path and plunge into the undergrowth, and Jeonghan keeps interrupting his train of thought every few minutes with stupid shit like <em>‘Did you hear that? I think someone’s following us’ </em>and <em>‘I hope this isn’t the same forest they filmed The Blair Witch in’</em> and<em> ‘Your boots have little bears on the soles!’ </em>and it’s kind of hard to keep track of where you’re going with all that noise.</p><p>Eventually they stop by a <em>sort of</em> familiar giant rock to take a break and check their maps.</p><p>“How are you not <em>dying</em> right now Hoonie? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you do so much exercise in your life and you’re hardly out of breath.” Jeonghan pants, pushing some snow off a rock to take a seat.</p><p>The tip of his nose and ears have gone pink in the cold, but when he strips out of his jacket, he’s sweated right through his shirt and hoodie. Jihoon, in comparison, is still keeping his shit together. His feet are killing him of course, and he should’ve known today was a bad time to break in his new hiking boots, but he’s feeling pretty Godlike compared to Captain Sweaty McPitStains over there.</p><p>“Maybe because I’ve been conserving my energy by not <em>talking</em> the whole time.” Jihoon snorts, then a little less meanly, “And Seungcheol keeps me pretty active I guess. He’s very energetic.”</p><p>Jeonghan leers at him, “Is that your unsubtle way of saying you guys have a great sex life?”</p><p>Jihoon just rolls his eyes and snatches the water out of his hand before he guzzles it all.  </p><p>When they finally get moving again, the terrain becomes a lot more hazardous than Jihoon prefers. Or remembers, to be honest. They have to navigate a few steep inclines, and clamber over some pretty massive rocks he doesn’t recall having such difficult with before, but he supposes having an athletic Werewolf boyfriend to boost you up makes a huge difference.</p><p>It’s another few minutes of climbing before they push through some thick bushes into a wide clearing, and that’s what Jihoon begins to worry. They must have taken a wrong turn somewhere, because he doesn’t recognise this place at all—that is until, he spots the crudely made sign sticking up in the earth that reads ‘Squirrels Not Welcome’.</p><p>“We must be close.” Jihoon grins, pointing at the sign.</p><p>Jeonghan slants him a narrow, disheveled look, but nods and follows as Jihoon begins to cut a path cross the clearing.</p><p>The forest floor is comparatively drier up here, frozen through with ice that has yet to thaw, and each of their footsteps fall with an echo like they’re scouting at the bottom of a canyon.</p><p>“I’m amazed we haven’t come across any wildlife yet,” Jeonghan’s says, panting hard, and it’s <em>then</em> that Jihoon realizes the only things they can hear out here are themselves.</p><p>It’s gone deathly quiet around them. Save for the rattled sound of their breathing there’s nothing, not a soul or a sound or any goddamn thing, like the world had been draped over with a wool blanket and muffled out. The birds don’t cry, the wind doesn’t move. It’s gone quiet enough to hear each rabbit-kick thump of his heart.</p><p>“Uhh, Jihoon—” Jeonghan says, tugging on his sleeve.</p><p>His voice has gotten a lot higher, like he's suddenly sucked in a lot of helium, and when Jihoon turns his head to look, he can see why.</p><p>There’s a large, grey wolf standing on the other side of the clearing, watching them.</p><p>No, wait. Scratch that.</p><p>There is a <em>pack</em> of wolves watching them, crouching between the slender bodies of too many yearling trees cropped up together, partially hidden amidst the thick, forest shrubbery. Eight or <em>nine</em> at least.</p><p>Jihoon holds his breath as they howl in unison and begin to fan out, circling the trees around the edges of the clearing. The largest wolf they spotted first doesn’t move from his perch, but continues to watch them—close and intense, its breath coming in a heavy, rasping pant.</p><p>“Hey, Jihoon, can you tell your boyfriend to stop being a dick? He’s scaring me.” Jeonghan whispers.</p><p>Jihoon snorts, “That’s not Seungcheol you idiot. That’s just a <em>regular</em> wolf.”</p><p>“Then uhm, <em>why</em> is he checking us out and getting his pals to circle us?”</p><p>“I don’t know.” Jihoon murmurs, except that’s not true, it’s just that he doesn’t think Jeonghan would appreciate him saying,<em> ‘Because it’s winter, and he’s probably hungry and we look nice and fleshy. You do the maths.’</em></p><p>The large grey wolf is on his feet and growling now, closing the distance between them one paw at a time. Jihoon’s pretty sure he isn’t coming over for a belly rub, or to introduce himself. He’s probably coming over to introduce <em>them</em> to a very terrible mauling.</p><p>This is what he gets, Jihoon supposes, for traipsing through the woods in the middle of winter with a delicious meatball sub.</p><p>In retrospect, they <em>kind</em> of had this coming.</p><p>Jihoon feels the first tendrils of something that's probably panic clench his gut together, but he forces it down. Any sudden movement will probably only encourage the wolves to chase after them on principle, and if his brief stint as a boy scout taught him anything it’s to hold his ground, stare the wolves right in the eye and make himself as big as possible by waving his hands about like a lunatic.</p><p>Or is that just with bears…</p><p>“Jihoon,” Jeonghan whispers, sounding really anxious now, “Maybe you should give them the meatball sub.”</p><p>Outraged, Jihoon glares at him, “No fucking way, it’s for Seungcheol.”</p><p>“You can <em>get</em> Seungcheol another sandwich later, right now I think we should try and save our asses.”</p><p>“No, I bought this sub for Cheollie and Cheollie only.”</p><p>It’s probably a bad time to start arguing about it—but they do. Which is probably why it takes him a moment to notice the wolves have stopped growling, stopped trying to circle them. Just stopped in their tracks completely in fact.</p><p>Then, just as Jihoon’s considering the merits of making a run for it, the bushes open and Werewolf Seungcheol comes stomping out, moving half on two legs, half on four, a huge hulking form of fur and claws and great, red glowing eyes. There’s a branch clenched between his enormous bone white teeth, and a mangled ball in his right paw, the latter of which he drops in apparent surprise when he spots Jihoon.</p><p>It takes a moment for Jihoon to find his voice and say, “Uhm, hey puppy.”</p><p>Were!Cheol blinks at him, at Jeonghan cowering behind him, then over at the pack of wolves that have frozen in place and then tips his snout up, thoughtful, like he’s hearing a distant sound.</p><p>From Jihoon’s point of view, it looks like a benign kind of gesture—like he's just, you know, offering a casual greeting. <em>Yo, fellow Lupines. What’s for dinner?</em> Except it must mean something else, because it sends the pack of regular wolves whining and scampering like rabbits.</p><p>“Thank you Cheollie,”—Jihoon begins to say, shoulders sagging in relief, expect it’s all drowned out by the epic, and somewhat belated blood curdling <em>scream</em> Jeonghan emits. </p><p>“<em>Shhh</em>,” Jihoon hisses, clamping a hand over his mouth, “It’s just Seungcheol you chicken shit. I told you he would be huge and hairy when we found him. Now calm down before you scare him away.”</p><p>Jeonghan just <em>stares</em> at him, as if totally flummoxed, then cranes his neck to stare up at Were!Cheol, towering ten feet high next to them and his mouth drops open, “Oh, oh that’s good. I’m… glad we…we found him. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I think I’m going to—”</p><p><em>Pass out,</em> is probably the end to that sentence, seeing as that’s exactly what Jeonghan promptly does.</p><p>It’s probably for the best, Jihoon determines, and shakes off his rucksack so he can pull out the meatball sub.</p><p>It’s gotten cold, but Were!Cheol can obviously still smell it; he lets the branch fall from his mouth and drops to a crouch, begins beating his paws on the floor, tail whipping through the air behind him like an over-excited puppy. For a second, he almost comes close enough to sniff it. Then he meets Jihoon’s gaze and his shoulders sag and bristle, all in one movement, and he turns around and begins to stomp away.</p><p>“W-wait,” Jihoon calls out. It comes out as barely a croak, and he has to pause, clear his throat. “I have other food for you too. I have…I have trail mix! <em>Mountains</em> of the stuff. You like trail mix, don’t you?”</p><p>Stopping under a tree a few meters away, Were!Cheol glances at at Jihoon over his shoulder, curls his lip into a snarl and <em>growls</em>.</p><p>He clearly finds the peace offering of trail mix <em>inadequate</em>.</p><p>“Okay, so the trail mix isn’t actually for you,” Jihoon says, forcing a shaky smile, “But I brought you <em>other</em> things you might like. I brought your favourite ball, and a cool looking branch I found in the park,” He takes a deep breath, and adds, “And I’m wearing my red lacey <em>thong</em>.”</p><p>Were!Cheol spares him another over the shoulder look. There’s no growling this time, but the patently unimpressed expression on his face seem to say <em>‘You’re going to have to do better than that’</em></p><p>“Hey,” Jihoon huffs, feeling the vein in his temple start to throb, “Stop being so spoilt, okay, I’ve been worried sick about you. I’ve been crying for two days straight, and I’ve nearly gotten myself killed coming all this way to find you, so you <em>will</em> you stop being a giant baby right this instant and come here so we can talk it out.”</p><p>Were!Cheol lifts his snout in the air and chuffs, as if to say,<em> I am a giant werewolf, why would I do anything you say?</em></p><p>Which, to be fair, <em>is</em> a very good point.</p><p>Nevertheless, Jihoon refuses to concede. He tips back his shoulders into an instinctive stance of authority, takes a breath, and snaps, “Now Seungcheol.”</p><p>That does the trick.   </p><p>Were!Cheol whines and lowers his head, then dropping down on all fours, he lopes over and drops on his ass a foot away.</p><p>Even half his height, he’s still huge, hairy and intimidating, but now he’s looking at Jihoon with those familiar brown, puppy dog eyes and Jihoon can’t help it, he has to reach out and gives him a little scratch behind his left ear.</p><p>“Good puppy,”</p><p>Were!Cheol trembles imperceptibly under his hand. Then it’s like he starts to <em>melt</em>; his features blur, running like wax, until inch by inch, the fur recedes and it’s just Seungcheol standing in front of him, sweat-soaked and panting. Butt naked too.</p><p>“That’s better, now we can talk like adults,” Jihoon says sensibly. Then, because he is also predisposed towards ruining any attempts he makes at <em>being</em> a sensible adult, he flings himself at the guy.</p><p>“Oh god, I’m so happy you’re okay. How have you been?” He breathes shakily, looping his arms around Seungcheol’s shoulders, holding on for dear life.</p><p>“Okay, I guess,” Seungcheol murmurs against his neck, but Jihoon can feel the way his shoulders shake, actually winces at the sharp, longing whine Seungcheol tries to muffles against his collar. It fills Jihoon with hope—not because he’s an asshole—but because he can finally dismiss that awful thought that maybe Seungcheol was perhaps <em>enjoying</em> this break from him.</p><p>Clearly, he wasn’t. Clearly, Seungcheol has been just as wound up about it, if not more.</p><p>When they pull back, he barely leaves enough room between them for air.</p><p>“I’m actually really happy to see you Jihoon, I’ve been having a bad day.” He sniffles, sounding so sad. “A group of bears took over my cave while I was away, made a mess of all my stuff. I had to find a <em>new</em> cave, and I had to start my stick collection from scratch. But it’s winter you know, slim pickins.”</p><p>Jihoon reaches up to pull a twig out of his hair, “What do you need sticks for? To build a fire?”</p><p>“Nope,” Seungcheol shrugs affably, “Just for fun.”</p><p>Jihoon blinks at Seungcheol a couple of times, and then a couple more, just for good measure. Then reaches up to cup his face.</p><p>“Okay, you have to listen to me Cheollie, because I’m going to be honest with you here. You have changed my life, a lot, and it was stupid of me to deny it. But any changes you’ve made, I was happy for them to change. They’re good changes. They make me happier. Yes, I’ve lost weight. But not because I’m starving myself or something, you know exactly how much food I can pack away. It’s just because I’m a lot more active than I used to be, going on hikes and playing in the park. And yeah, I have less time for some hobbies I used to be devoted to, but I’m spending more time outside my dorm now and that’s really good for me Cheollie, it’s made me healthier. I used to be cooped up in my room for days at a time, and now I actually go out and do stuff. Fun stuff. Stuff I enjoy, stuff I’ve always <em>wanted</em> to do, and now I finally have someone to do it with. When I decided I wasn’t going home for Christmas, it’s because I wanted to be here with you, and yeah, it was because I couldn’t bear the thought of you being alone on the holidays. But trust me when I say it wasn’t even a hard decision to make, I <em>wanted</em> to stay.”</p><p>Seungcheol looks him over critically for a moment, as if searching for evidence of a lie.</p><p>“What…what about your friends? You’ve been avoiding them because of me.”</p><p>Jihoon resists the urge to shift uncomfortably, settling for a shrug instead, “True—but it’s not because you being a werewolf was a problem for <em>me</em>. It’s because I didn’t want you to be treated like some freaky side-show act because you behave a little different. Don’t get me wrong, I love my friends, and they can be the nicest people you’ll ever meet, but they can also be intrusive, judgmental bastards when they feel like it, and I was worried all their questions would be too much for you. That they’d scare you away.”</p><p>“Hey—” Jeonghan’s voice blurts out, “That’s not fair.”</p><p>Turning, Jihoon finds he’s somehow revived himself, and is now sitting up on the ground a few feet away, knocking back a bag of trail mix.</p><p>“You know it’s true Hannie. Collectively, we can be pretty bitchy.”</p><p>“Yeah, okay,” Jeonghan laughs and scratches his head, “But it’s not necessarily a <em>bad</em> thing. It’s more of a <em>protective</em> bitchiness. We’re like, a pack, and we’re protecting the smallest, weakest members of the pack by scrutinising the newest potential members, so they know that if they ever try and mess with the baby wolf, they’ll face the wrath of all the wolves.”</p><p>“What the <em>hell</em> are you talking about?” Jihoon snorts, at the same time Seungcheol says, “That makes sense.”</p><p>Jihoon whips his head around to look at him, “It <em>does</em>?”</p><p>Seungcheol leans into him, grinning, “Yeah, you’re the baby wolf. I am the outsider. I must earn my place amongst your friends, so that I can claim you as my mate.”</p><p>Jeonghan cracks up at this.</p><p>“Not <em>exactly</em> what I meant, but you’re close. Very close.”</p><p>Frowning, Jihoon shifts to block him from Seungcheol’s view, “Don’t listen to his bullshit Cheollie, you don’t have to earn a place anywhere to be my boyfriend. You’re already my boyfriend. And I care about you a lot. So please, please come home with me.” He says, rushed and embarrassed and so honest it feels like he’s the one naked in the cool winter air.</p><p>“Okay,” Seungcheol says with a sweet answering smile, then stoops in to kiss him, arms winding around Jihoon’s back to lift him off the ground.</p><p>Jihoon reciprocates in earnest and presses as close as he can, threading fingers through Seungcheol’s hair as the kiss intensifies between them, hot and real and a little bit desperate.</p><p>It's a long moment and a lot of tongue later that Seungcheol finally draws back to pull him into a hug instead, presses his face against Jihoon’s neck and just holds on, like someone who’s been pulled back from the brink of a very bleak and lonely future.</p><p>“I missed you so much.” He whispers against Jihoon’s shoulder.</p><p>Jihoon tightens his arms around him. “Fuck, I missed you, too.” He answers, tilting his head to kiss his cheek, “Now, I packed you some clothes. Please put them on so Hannie will stop staring at your dick.”</p><p>Jeonghan scoffs and crosses his arms over his chest, his faintly red cheeks the only sign that he’s maybe a tiny bit embarrassed to be called out for staring.</p><p>“I wasn’t <em>staring</em>, I was just…okay, so maybe I was staring a little bit. But c’mon, look at it—it’s huge! That’s gotta be cause of the werewolf thing, right? It wasn’t <em>always</em> that big. Right?”</p>
<hr/><p>It’s Jeonghan who needs the piggyback out of the woods this time, and not just because he’s lazy and terribly out of shape, but because he’s actually managed to eat his own weight in trail mix and refuses to <em>move</em>.</p><p>Idiot.</p><p>Jisoo is very grateful to have him returned in one piece though, even if he’s a little alarmed to see him so <em>incapacitated</em>, and insists they stay for dinner. Jihoon accepts, even though he expects to be awkward as fuck, but it actually turns out to be really <em>nice </em>evening<em>. </em>There’s plenty of delicious food to satisfy everyone and Jisoo cracks open a few bottles of wine after and instead of an intensive interrogation of Seungcheol’s Werewolfy credentials, they end up having a heated argument about the best Christmas movie of all time.</p><p>Die Hard wins out in the end, because of course it’s <em>Seungcheol’s</em> choice, and he makes a very convincing argument with a heavy application of ‘puppy eyes’ which, apparently, <em>nobody</em> is immune to.</p><p>Cheater.</p><p>Still, it’s a really nice end to the day, and one of the better Christmas Eve’s in Jihoon’s memory, all things considered. He half expects Jisoo to bring up the Werewolf thing when they’re grabbing their coats to head home, and Seungcheol’s tail waves into view as he bends down to tie his laces, but Jisoo just gasps then leans into to whisper into Jihoon’s ear, “Oh my god Jihoon, his ass is <em>phenomenal.</em>”</p><p>“That was fun.” Seungcheol says, when they’re walking back to the dorm, hand in hand. “Your friends are really nice.”</p><p>“Good,” Jihoon smiles, squeezes his hand a little, then reaches up to peck him on the cheek, “Cause they’re your friends now too you know. And seeing as Jisoo’s invited us over again to ring in the new year, I’ll be able to introduce you to all my other friends.”</p><p>Seungcheol’s answering smile brightens the entire goddamn street. </p><p>FIN.</p><p> </p>
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